


Take my Brain, or What Remains

by Deathlysilence



Category: Portal (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Crossover, Cyborg Midoriya Izuku, Dadzawa, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Insecure Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Mild Language, Multi, Out of Character, Psychological Trauma, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Sassy Midoriya Izuku, Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, Shinsou Hitoshi is in Class 1-A
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23929450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deathlysilence/pseuds/Deathlysilence
Summary: Midoriya Izuku was alive before the birth of quirks. Stuck in a testing facility by a sadistic A.I., Glados, he is forced to go through test after test in the Aperture Science chambers forever.That is, until a rescue operation takes place to infiltrate the building, and now Midoriya must re-enter a society he didn't belong to with changes to his body he never wanted.OrMidoriya is a test subject in the years after Portal 2, where he undergoes human experimentation at the hands of Glados.You don't need to have played/watched Portal to understand this, almost all Portal lore is explained.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku & Shinsou Hitoshi, Midoriya Izuku & Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku & Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic
Comments: 890
Kudos: 1945





	1. Body

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, so I have seventeen million other things I need to write, but instead I'm hyperfixating on Portal. 
> 
> I love the plot and I couldn't help myself.
> 
> Also, title is from Body by Mother Mother
> 
> (This will have more chapters, I'm just a bad writer lol)

Izuku wasn't sure how to feel. Glados rarely chose him of all people to test, especially considering his age. He didn't know how long had passed since he'd been frozen, but he just knew it had been a shockingly long time. The testing chambers were run down, and though Glados did her best to clean up, there were still plants and debris littered all over the facility.

He was going through the motions, per the norm, the thrill of flying through the air with physics-bending technology had long since been exciting. Test after test. He knew Glados could be ruthless when testing, but he knew she couldn't help it. She was programmed to test. To conduct...experiments. Unfortunately for him, he just happened to be selected for her latest machinations.

He was stuck on one of her brain-scrambling courses. It was hard enough to solve such complex puzzles without Glados' constant bickering and complaining.

"If I'd known you would take this long, I would have taken more time getting ready this morning."

Izuku rolled his eyes. She was condescending at best, but he could feel a deep sadness within her. He didn't know the full story, but he'd heard rumours. Rumours from some of the other canon fodder she threw around in the name of science. It was rare she had more that one test subject awake at any given time, but apparently that particular chamber had been designed for 'co-operation'.

He didn't particularly care for Glados, seeing as she'd kept him trapped for however long it had been. Her insults were cutting, and the monotonous way in which she delivered them made him feel small. Not worthy of her attention. Crippling self-doubt crept up every time he wasn't sure how to solve an objectively difficult problem.

She was a force to be reckoned with, in complete control of the whole facility. She had eyes everywhere, and one misstep could end in death. Or rather, a temporary death before being roughly reassembled by some of the bots she had in an iron grip. He knew she was a bad person(?). She knew that he knew, and yet she kept picking him for tests. Maybe she thought he was in a class above the other test subjects.

As he flew through yet another portal, the exit door finally, finally opened. He exhaled in relief, walking to the elevator. She usually took this opportunity to bitch about his lousy performance, or compare him to Atlas and P-body, two of her testing robots. This time, however, she seemed...reluctant to speak, which was almost frightening in itself. Izuku picked at the portal gun resting on his forearm as he waited for the elevator to move.

"...You know, I discovered some old testing areas when I lost control over the facility. Would you be interested in seeing them? Though, I doubt you would know how to use technology as old as that."

Midoriya scoffed, mostly to himself. He didn't want to respond. To indulge her. But he was desperately lonely. 

"Fine, it's not like you would give me a choice either way."

"Wow, perhaps I was wrong about you. You can learn."

Midoriya huffed in frustration.

"Clever. When'd you come up with that one?"

She didn't grace him with a response. He rolled his eyes as the elevator made its speedy descent. One elevator lead to another, and another again. At one point, a pigeon(?) flew past him. Glados was oddly unresponsive.

When he finally stepped out of the last elevator, he was faced with a massive lobby area. Slowly, he made his way through, examining the old furniture and posters as he went.

"What...what is this place?"

Glados didn't respond right away. He stopped in front of a large painting of a man, the English name 'Cave Johnson' inscribed on the small plate. 

"This is the old reception, from when this facility first opened. This is where the test subjects would be welcomed by the scientists."

Izuku traversed the room, setting the knocked over chairs upright. 

"You know you don't need to do that, right?"

Izuku nodded.

"Maybe not, but this place is part of your history, isn't it? Why else would you bring me here?"

"You're observant. That's a good trait to have when doing deadly tests."

Was that...a compliment? An actual compliment?

"Yes, I'm complimenting you, and you better savour it, because this is probably the only time I'll ever give you one."

Oops, he'd been muttering again.

"Well then, thank you!"

He grinned. She sighed. 

"Why not go through that door and try out some of the older tests? We're going to be spending quite some time down here."

Midoriya shrugged. He proceeded into the main entrance.

A booming voice blasted over the comms, welcoming famous people to the facility and establishing some basic information pre-testing.

"Is that Cave? Cave Johnson?"

"Yes, he was the owner of this place."

"What...what happened to him? This area is so underdeveloped in comparison to your normal test chambers."

"He died. Poisoning from the ground up moon rocks we use to create the portal surfaces."

Midoriya lit up, before wilting slightly again.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but moon rocks? That is so interesting! Did you start making wallpaper out of it or something? Or maybe a gel would be more efficient? Oh! Did you ma-"

"I'm going to save you your breath. Yes, the first portals were cast onto a gel made from ground up moon rocks."

"So cool!"

Izuku traversed the old chambers, solving some of the tests. They were a lot less deadly than Glados' usual, so that was a welcome surprise. He loved just...looking. Seeing how far the company had come. How many advancements they had made.

As he completed another chamber, the booming voice echoed around the chambers again. It was different this time...it was more bitter. Harsher. It confused him, but he didn't immediately comment on it.

"For completing the tests, you can collect your sixty dollars, but if you let us take you apart, put some science stuff in you, and put you back together, we'll give you another sixty dollars. Thank you, I can't believe I'm thanking these people, and don't loiter around too much. Or touch anything. Caroline, can you get me some more painkillers?"

The voice cut out again.

Izuku was...beyond confused. Paying people to do the tests? Taking people apart? It was frightening. 

"Um...what was that about?"

No response.

"Glados?"

Still no response. He shook off his shock and walked through the next door. The room looked weird. Like...really weird. There was medical equipment lying around, and a few tables lined up along the room. Izuku sweat-dropped at the absolutely caked blood on the walls. 

"Holy shit? Is this where they disassembled test subjects?"

Glados still hadn't responded. It was starting to freak him out. She usually couldn't stop herself from talking about something or another. The silence was eerie. It didn't help that there were no portal surfaces in sight. No familiar white, just a dull yellow paint that was chipping and splashed with ancient blood.

He slowly approached one of the medical tables. It was the cleanest of all of them, almost no dust covering the surface. That should have been his warning. The moment he sat down, the door slammed shut. 

He tried to stand up, but four mechanical arms he hadn't seen grabbed a limb each. He was roughly pushed back onto the table, arms and legs akimbo. He was starting to freak out. Was there an error with the old tech? He thought it wouldn't be operational, considering its age.

He struggled in his binds, but the claw hands gripped him harder. A fifth claw pulled the portal gun from his hand, and he nearly screamed. He was sweating. Breathing too quickly. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realised he was having a panic attack.

"Struggling won't achieve anything. Those claws are practically new."

He looked around the room wildly, looking for the source of Glados' voice. A monitor off to the side had her robotic head in full view. 

"Glados! W-what's going on? Let me go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why?!"

"I've made some impressive progress on an old pet project of mine, thanks to you and some of the other test subjects. I want to try and implement it in a live subject. All of the other subjects died. Such a shame, really."

"Are you insane?! I don't want to die!"

"Here, I'll put your mind at ease. There's a one in fifteen million, two hundred thousand and fifty eight chance you'll survive."

"HOW DOES THAT MAKE ME FEEL BETTER?"

"Alright, then I won't try to comfort you. I was just trying to help, you know. You don't have to get all angry at me."

Izuku was sobbing at this point. He had known, deep down, that he wouldn't survive the tests. He hadn't volunteered for it. He didn't even remember bow he'd ended up at Aperture, but he knew deep down he would never get out. That he would die here, alone and forgotten. 

Only one other person had ever escaped the chambers and lived. The one they called Chell. He wasn't sure if he believed the rumours about her, but if they were true, oh how he wished he was her. She was long gone, safe and away from this monster.

He stopped resisting as it hit him. He'd been here for years. Glados refused to tell him how long, but time still passed. He was only a teenager, but he'd been cryogenically frozen more times than he could count. His family must be dead. Long cold in the ground.

He didn't react as a claw plunged into his stomach. He saw white, and there was screaming. It took him a hot second to realise it was him. The pain was so unlike anything he'd ever experienced. So much worse than being reassembled. As a second claw arm sliced into his chest, and he blacked out.

* * *

  
There was ringing. Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? Izuku had never been very religious, but he hoped he was dead. He didn't want to know what happened to him. He hadn't thought Glados was as cruel as she'd turned out to be. He'd heard her sing once. She had sounded so sad. He tried to reserve judgement of her, but she never tried to make him like her. There was no appeasement. She just pushed and pushed him, and when he failed, she would insult him like it didn't matter. Like he didn't matter.

And it hurt. He didn't ask to be stuck in that facility, but there he had been. He never thought Glados liked him, but when she invited him to the low levels of the facility, he'd thought she cared. Cared about him. He let himself be vulnerable, and look where that got him. Probably dead, or close enough to it.

"Are you still there?"

The voice startled him. Turrets. Shit.

He jumped to his feet and ducked behind an overturned table. He slowly glanced over the edge, but there was no turret in sight. He stood up, looking around the room. Not dead, then. What a shame. 

There was fresh blood on the walls. Wait. Blood? His blood? 

It hit him.

He shrieked, jumping back from the claw arms surrounding the table in front of him. Tears flowed down his cheeks, but they didn't affect his vision. That was...odd. Very odd. He looked to the monitor Glados had once watched from. Nothing but static. He looked for his portal gun, but the device was nowhere to be seen.

"What am I supposed to do without a portal gun? That's like the only thing I had going for me."

"Oh, you're awake."

He felt like he should've jumped, maybe screamed, but he...didn't. He didn't feel surprised to see her. That was odd.

He looked in the direction of the computer monitor.

"I have to say, for a while there I thought you wouldn't make it. You fainted far quicker than the other test subjects, but then again, none of them lived."

Izuku didn't respond, just stared at the monitor.

"Alright, I suppose I deserve that."

Still nothing.

"Why don't you take the elevator back up? I'll show you what I did."

That caught his interest. He wanted, no, needed to know what had been done to him. He made his way to the elevator, but something was strange. He couldn't feel anything aching. Considering how much pain he'd been in, he thought he would've had some lasting aches. Something. Anything.

But he was numb. 

And he was angry.

He reached the top of the elevator, and took the same route he'd taken before. Before he knew it, he was in front of Glados herself, in her massive lair. (Yes, he called it her 'lair')

"Welcome. Can I interest you in some fresh oxygen?"

He glared at her.

"Alright, I'm sure you just want to know what exactly I did. You heard how Mr. Johnson offered the then-subjects money to disassemble and reassemble them? I did that. I just added some thing you didn't have before."

Izuku looked down at himself. His clothes didn't have a scratch.

"I took the liberty of changing your clothes for you. Once your heart didn't stop, I let the assembly bots finish their meaningless jobs before giving you a new jumpsuit."

"And my feet?"

"Oh, I'm surprised you noticed so fast. I removed your boots. But you won't need them anymore. One of my new pieces is far more efficient. And durable."

Izuku stared up at her.

"To sum it up, I put the boots in your legs."

He blinked.

"You're not kidding."

Glados hummed.

"No, I have no use for humour. It wastes precious time."

Izuku glowered at her.

"What? Don't you like your new enhancements? They're much more efficient. A warning though, never look down the operational end of the device."

"And how, pray tell, does that apply here?"

"Don't spend too much time staring at your feet, is all I'll say about it. Now, back to testing. I have some new chambers set up, just for you."

"Well golly, I must be the most lucky boy in the world."

"I know that was sarcasm, but yes, you are."

* * *

  
It had been...a while.

A long while.

Izuku had been moved from his incubator to a relaxation chamber, under the guise that it was easier to fetch him for testing. He'd survived some positively mind boggling tests before, but they had become even more difficult. Izuku couldn't help but wonder if Glados even cared if he could solve them. After all, he was just her crash test dummy for her new tech.

After one of the tests, he'd been making his way back to his chamber when he heard a voice. A quiet, but determined, voice. His first thought, naturally, was that it was a test. He glanced around for any cameras or something that would allow Glados to see him, but he couldn't spot a thing. His second thought was that it was a turret. 

Turrets were as irritating as robots could get. They were different from Glados, or Atlas and P-body. They weren't sentient in the slightest, though they did experience a simulated form of pain. They could only follow their programming. And their programming dictated that they constantly try to fill him with bullets. It was scary at first, and he hadn't wanted to hurt them, but as time went on, he lost any sympathy he had for them. They were killing machines, simple as that, but there was something odd about the turret he could hear.

It sounded like it wanted him to find it. Izuku had never seen that in a turret before. He reluctantly made his way over, his portal gun brandished like it could actually fire bullets.

"Hello?"

He glanced around the dark corner, and there it sat, laying haphazardly on its side along an old conveyor belt. Its pointer laser focused on him, and he ducked back around the corner.

"I'm different."

It's voice was no more emotional than the others, but the turrets had a script. They weren't artificial intelligence. He slowly leaned back around the corner, looking at the turret.

"You heard me."

He approached, still brandishing his portal gun aggressively.

"Yes, I heard you. What do you want?"

It didn't respond for a bit. He wondered briefly if it actually was a trap.

"Freedom."

Izuku blinked. The turret was still looking at him. He sighed, lowering the portal gun.

"Me too, buddy."

"She'll keep hurting you."

He looked up from his feet.

"W-what? What are you talking about?"

"The ancient Egyptians would pull a deceased's brain out through their nose during mummification, in an attempt to let them reach the afterlife."

"Wait, back up a second."

"You'll save the eraser."

Izuku stuttered as the turret watched him. He floundered for a moment.

"Hey, what's going to happen to you?"

"Down this conveyor belt is the incinerator room. I'll be melted."

"You'll die?"

"Yes, I suppose I will."

Izuku thought for a moment. He raised his hand and grabbed the turret. Thank Glados for the portal gun. He had no idea how it could literally rip holes in the fabric of reality and also be able to hold things more than twice his own weight.

He started back on the trek to his relaxation chamber, turret in hand.

"Where are we going?"

"My room, I won't let you die here."

"...a hero."

The turret didn't say anything else, and Izuku didn't ask it any questions. Once he'd arrived back, he set it down in the corner opposite his bed. 

"Where did you come across that abomination?"

Glados' voice surprised him. She usually never talked to him after testing. It was unsettling.

"Conveyor belt."

"Why? It's useless. It won't help you with the tests, and it won't keep you company. It has no purpose, because it couldn't fulfill the one assigned to it."

"Humans make attachments. Not that you'd know."

That shut her up pretty quickly, he thought. 

"Thank you."

He looked back at the turret. Its light was glowing red again.

"Oh, it's no trouble. I'm glad I have someone to talk to other than Glados all the time."

* * *

He was frozen again. It felt different than his incubator. Mainly because he was standing upright in his incubator, rather than down. The bed in his relaxation chamber was surprisingly nice. It was comfy, and he liked waking up in it, even if it meant he would have to do more tests.

It had been another while. He found it frightening, how much time had probably passed since he'd been woken up for the first time since he had gotten to the facility. The turret was right about Glados. She brought him down to the lower floors several times now, and every time he would walk out a little less human.

First it was his feet and eyes. Why did he even need robotic eyes? Glados never explained, but he didn't need to blink much anymore, so maybe that was it. A little underwhelming, really. After that, it was his stomach. There, in the centre of his abdomen, was a white fibreglass circle. He was never told what it was for. He didn't want to know. After his stomach was his chest, and then his shoulders, and finally, his hands. 

The changes to his hands scared him more than any of the others.

Where he once had calloused, freckled hands, he now had white fibreglass digits, with black lining where his 'fingers' creased. The scariest part was probably what the changes in his hands were even for. 

Let's just say he doesn't have to carry a portal gun with him anymore. He kind of became one.

With as little as a thought, his new hands would shift and change into a gross approximation of a portal gun. The glowing orange and blue circles would rise up out of his palm. It looked mesmerising, but Izuku hated it. He didn't care if it was more 'efficient' or a new innovation, he wanted to be himself. And he didn't feel like himself.

He felt like an abomination. A robot. Like Glados.

The tests he once found hard became starkly easier. He found himself chatting with Glados as he went through the chambers. And it scared him. He hated her for what she did to him, and yet he started seeing the similarities between himself and her. He couldn't help but compare them.

"You zoned out again."

He snapped out of his funk, looking at the turret. He'd started calling it Rhett. It seemed to like the name, and it never corrected him, so he just stuck with it.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"She called for you."

He felt the temperature of the room drop. She definitely wanted to talk with him about something. Or just stick mechanical claws in him again.

He exhaled shakily, standing from his bed.

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later?"

"Her name is Caroline."

He blinked. Caroline? Glados had a name? 

"Caroline? As in Glados' name is Caroline?"

"It'll stun her."

"What?"

"They'll find me."

"Huh? Who?"

Rhett didn't respond. Izuku didn't try to coax it into talking more. He made his way to Glados' lair, shaking imperceptibly.

"Ah, you're here. I was beginning to think you were ignoring me."

He approached her, walking up without hesitation.

"Is there something you wanted from me?"

"No, I just wanted to talk."

Izuku raised an eyebrow at the hulking robot hanging from the ceiling. Her yellow eye narrowed slightly.

"But if you would prefer tests..."

"No! Talk! Let's talk!"

Izuku hated that he was still scared of her. He knew he had the right to hate her, but other than Rhett, the only person he could talk to is Glados. That, and he was desperate for her approval. He didn't know why, but whenever she would complain about his performance or insult him, he would feel like a child again.

He sighed and sat down cross legged in front of her.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Glados shifted down, coming closer to him.

"Well, I was hoping we could have an educated discussion. Tell me, what do you know about this facility?"

Izuku raised an eyebrow, but answered anyways.

"I know it was opened in the 1940s, by a man named Cave Johnson. I know he started developing groundbreaking technology, but went bankrupt after being beaten out by Black Mesa. He got deathly ill from breathing in the ground up moon rocks, and he wanted to pass the company to his assistant."

He paused, trying to gauge her reaction. She wasn't reacting at all. It wasn't that strange, she usually didn't emote much, especially not with her physical body.

"...Her name was Caroline."

Now _that_ got a reaction. It was minuscule, almost unnoticeable, just a tiny flinch, but he noticed. He picked up on it immediately. Izuku knew he was swimming in uncharted waters, but he persisted.

"He wanted her to take over, even if she didn't want to. He had been working on new technology, so he could upload his brain to an A.I., and stay around long after his body died from the poison in his system. He knew she would refuse, so he gave his scientists explicit permission to do whatever it took..."

Glados still didn't speak, but she was lingering on his every word. Almost like she was waiting for him to realise something. Something important, if he could just put two and two together.

"You're...you're her, aren't you."

It wasn't a question, but she didn't have an answer. She looked away from him, but she didn't move.

"...I'm sorry. I'm sorry he did that to you."

She looked back to him.

"Why are you sympathizing with me? After all the pain I've put you through in the name of science?"

"You can't help it, can you? If it's in you're programming, I don't blame you."

"Just because you don't blame me doesn't mean you like me."

Izuku scratched at his chin.

"I don't think I'll ever like you, but that doesn't mean that what he did was right."

She hesitated. That was a new one.

"I...I didn't want this, I ju-"

A booming, robotic voice blasted from all of the speakers, red and yellow lights flashing incessantly as the warning bells chimed.

"Unauthorized personnel detected inside the facility, self-destruct imminent in T-minus two minutes!"

Glados jerked upwards.

"What?! How...?"

Izuku was on his feet in a beat. He glanced around at the monitors, all displaying the same image. Warning.

This had never happened before. No one had ever broken in. Izuku didn't even know how far underground they were, but he knew the facility was supposed to be next to impossible to access without blueprints. So...who was breaking in?

* * *

Eraserhead had very few regrets. Going to UA? He never regretted it. Becoming a teacher? Not once. Expelling his entire class of potential heroes? Nope. 

He was beginning to regret this though. It wasn't often that an underground hero was requested for missions overseas. It was even rarer that the country the request came from was America. 

Nedzu had been the one to inform him of the unorthodox mission.

He was standing at the principal's desk when Nedzu gave him the run down of what was happening.

_"A new pro overseas discovered a strange biological signature deep underground. A human signature. She said she could feel thousands of them. We don't know what's down there, but it isn't on any official records, and no one has been seen going in or out in the last two weeks."_

_"Where?"_

_"Michigan."_

_"America? Why do they need me?"_

_"They're concerned about what quirks may be at play here, if any. You're also not well known, so there's little chance of you being recognised. Are you willing? I'll give you the week off, paid of course."_

_Aizawa mulled over it. It was risky. Unknown quirks and unknown circumstances. Recon had apparently turned up nothing, other than the fact that no one was seen going in or out. He'd have to fly out in advance to beat the jetlag. He didn't have a class anymore, so he wouldn't have to worry about that, but it was still high risk._

_"I'll do it, but you have to inform the staff about the mission, in the off chance something goes wrong."_

_"Of course, I'll let you prepare and I'll have flights booked by noon."_

_"Thank you, Nedzu."_

Aizawa still wasn't sure why he agreed. He wasn't _bad_ at speaking English, considering how long he spent with Mic, but that doesn't mean he was the best. Plenty of phrases and more obscure words were lost on him.

The pro who'd located the underground facility was here. She looked far too young to be dealing with such a potentially deadly situation. He spent most of his time conversing with one of the pros who'd spoken to Nedzu about his participation. Mr. Smile or something like that. He didn't see the appeal.

"Alright, listen up! We don't know what's in here, or what we are about to see, so get in, try to stay hidden, and get out if things go south. Got it?"

A resounding chorus of agreement rung out from the crowd of around thirty pro heroes.

"Great! Everyone to their posts! We go in in sixty seconds."

Aizawa was standing by what looked like a manhole, but was clearly not intended to serve as one. As the timer ticked down, he couldn't stop himself from wondering if things would go wrong. There could be absolutely _anything_ down here, the facility wasn't on any official records. They could all be killed before they could say 'freeze'.

"...four, three, two, one! Move in!"

The man next to him warped the metal of the cover until it was wide enough for two to descend at a time. Lowering their rope ladders, they made quick work of entering.

Aizawa and Mr. Smile were the first down, and Aizawa was in awe of how vast the building was. He looked down as they approached something solid. It was a light teal, with the words 'Aperture Science' printed onto them. He kicked the nearest plank of it, and it fell in. He used his capture weapon to lower himself to the ground, looking around as he went. 

There were alarms blasting from speakers he couldn't see, and flashing red and yellow lights flashing all over the facility. There! He landed on the ground, and found a...

A boy. A teenage boy.

He looked no older than some of the students he had expelled. 

The boy was looking at him like he had three heads. They made eye contact for what felt like ages, but was only a fraction of a second.

Aizawa's eyes were drawn to the massive fucking robot behind the boy.

"Who are you! How did you find this facility?!"

The robot...had a voice. Okay. Weird.

The boy jerked to face it, throwing up his hands, as if to block him from an attack.

"WAIT! Glados, _don't_! Don't hurt him!"

Glados? Alright, Aizawa had no clue what the fuck he'd just dropped into, but he needed to get this kid out.

He ran forward, grabbing the boy's arm. Green eyes stared at him in...awe? Fascination? Aizawa didn't have time to come to a conclusion before a robotic voice boomed over the speakers.

"Activating neurotoxin pumps, chamber flood predicted in T-minus one minute."

 _Neurotoxin_? Oh fuck no.

"Kid! We have to get out of here!"

The boy looked at him with something akin to disbelief in his eyes. As he moved to step towards him, he suddenly flinched. He looked to the robot in the middle of the room. Glados? Something like that.

"I'm sorry."

"What?-"

"This sentence is false!"

The yellow light on the face of the machine sputtered and turned off. 

What the fuck.

Aizawa glanced at the green gas glowing from the vents, then at the kid.

"Hey! Kid, we need to get out of here, NOW."

The boy didn't seem to hear him. Not an English speaker maybe? The speakers blasted again.

"Self-destruct imminent in T-minus thirty seconds!"

"Shit! Kid, _come on_!"

Aizawa gripped the boy by his shoulders, shaking him lightly. The boy finally seemed to _see_ him.

"Kid, listen to me, I'm going to get you out of here, but you need to listen to me, ok?"

The boy glanced at the monitors, eyes widening.

He threw his arm up in an arc, firing _something_ up beyond what Aizawa could see, and then pointing directly below them, and then they were falling, and then-

 _Boom_.

* * *

In another part of the facility, the young pro was running around every corner, looking for the sheer thousands of people she'd felt but she couldn't find a thing. The group she was with were getting anxious. The alarm blaring and the constant reminders that the facility would blow itself up weren't helping with morale.

Turning another corner, she was met with corridors full of rooms. She couldn't feel anything, but she could hear something. Throwing open the door revealed a robot. A talking robot.

"Do you know who's here? A villain? An organisation?"

"Her name is Caroline."

"Caroline? One person?"

"She's lonely."

The alarms blared louder and louder as the last few minutes ticked down on the clock.

"Damnit! Grab the robot! We gotta get out of here, _now_!"


	2. My Body is A Cage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Direct continuation of the last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May I just say
> 
> THANK Y'ALL FOR ALL THE GREAT FEEDBACK!!!
> 
> Dudes I legit cried and ye are so damn nice!!! I really hope ye like this chapter.
> 
> One thing I'll say is that updates are gonna be sporadic at best because I'm awkward. Just thought I'd let ye know

Aizawa's ears were ringing, but he was alive. He wasn't sore, but he couldn't rule out injury yet. His vision was clouded with white, and the more he blinked, the clearer things got. He was lying on the ground, outside the facility.

"Fuck..."

He groaned as he pushed himself up. He looked around, trying to understand what had happened. The boy.

He was lying next to him, unconscious but breathing. That was good. He shuffled over to him, gently nudging him.

"Kid? Kid, you need to wake up for me, can you do that please? Come on."

The boy's eyes flickered, and in a beat the boy was on his feet, looking around. Aizawa didn't know what was happening. The boy looked up. Just...up, and he was crying. He sucked in a deep breath, and smiled the brightest grin Aizawa had ever seen.

"Kid?"

Aizawa hadn't realised he'd swapped over to Japanese when the boy turned to him, still smiling.

"You speak Japanese?"

The kid tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah? I'm Japanese, what else would I speak?"

Aizawa froze.

"Kid, do you know where you are?"

"Well I was just in _there_ , Aperture Science, and now I'm here. Hopefully not too far from home."

"Kid, we're in America."

"What? America?"

Aizawa nodded. The kid looked confused.

"Okay, we'll worry about that later, for now, we need to get you to a hospital."

***

There had been heavy casualties. Most of his group hadn't made it, either from the toxic gas or the explosion that followed it. Thousands of the people they'd detected underground perished. They just couldn't _find them._ The boy Aizawa had found was in plain sight, but the rest? They were anyone's guess.

The boy, at least, was kind. Friendly, if not somewhat untrusting. 

Aizawa was asked to stay with him in the hospital, being the only Japanese speaker in the group, and that he'd been there with the kid.

Said kid was playing with the blanket of the hospital bed.

"So, I can't keep calling you 'kid' all day. Do you have a name?"

The boy looked to him, curiously.

"Oh, my name is Midoriya Izuku!"

Aizawa smiled, despite himself.

"I'm Aizawa Shouta, but I also go by Eraserhead."

Midoriya had paused.

"Eraser?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why, have you heard of me?"

The boy just shook his head, looking a bit uneasy.

"Midoriya, I wanted to thank you for before. You saved me from the explosion, and I owe you a great deal of gratitude. Mind if I ask how you did it?"

Midoriya flushed at the praise, covering his eyes.

"It's really no trouble! I just did what any good person would do! But um...as for how..."

Midoriya lifted his hands from the blanket, holding them outstretched in front of him. Aizawa was eyeing him curiously as he moved, and he flinched when his hands started shifting. He idly wondered if he should've warned the man first.

Once his hands had stopped moving, now replaced with makeshift portal guns, he shuffled closer to Aizawa, showing him his 'hands'.

"What...what do they do?"

Midoriya aimed one hand at the wall, and fired off a blue portal. He fired off an orange portal under a spare chair that was against the far wall, and watched as the chair appeared in front of Aizawa. He always loved the colours, and how they would shift and change as if they weren't fully there. 

Aizawa blinked, looking between the portals with interest. He plucked a notepad off the nightstand next to him, and threw it through the portal. He snickered as it fell through on the opposite side of the small room.

"Impressive. That's a cool power you got there, Midoriya."

Aizawa reached out, gently holding his right hand as he examined the changes. He turned over his hand, and Midoriya flinched.

"It's a bad idea to look down the operational end."

Aizawa dropped his hand.

"Really? Why?"

"It could fry your retinas and possibly give you brain damage."

Aizawa stared at him.

"That's kind of scary."

Midoriya nodded solemnly.

"Yes, it is."

***

A local detective had asked Midoriya some very basic questions, all in relation to what happened during the showdown, rather than everything else that was happening in that horror of a facility.

Midoriya was flown to Japan, to be treated in a different hospital. He'd told them he lived in Musutafu before he was _there_ , though he didn't remember how he ended up in America.

The man, Aizawa, hadn't left him yet. It was...nice. It had been so long since he spoke with someone other than Glados and Rhett. Speaking of, according to Aizawa, the other group who'd entered the facility found it. 

"Yeah, it started talking and they assumed it was self aware."

"It is. They weren't designed to be, but Rhett is a special case."

"Rhett?"

"That's what I call it."

"I see. Another detective will be here soon, you want to have something to eat first?"

"Yeah, that would be nice. Maybe something simple though, I haven't had solid food in...I don't even know how long."

"What? You weren't fed?"

Midoriya looked at him like it was obvious.

"I didn't need to be. When test subjects are...frozen...the incubators would keep you hydrated and provide the nutrients you needed. It was to keep test subjects as healthy as possible, while also saving funds. It wasn't that bad, to be honest. Just weird. I didn't really have time to be thinking about food."

Aizawa looked at him with sympathy. Midoriya didn't want to think about it.

"Actually, I'm curious about something."

Midoriya looked to Aizawa, who'd moved over to the window. He liked the window. Lots to see. He especially liked sunsets. He'd forgotten what is was like to watch them.

"Yeah?"

"Back at the facility, you said something to the robot. What was that about?"

"Oh, the paradox? Right, I should explain. So, the robot, Glados, was an artificial intelligence. Their programming is supposed to compel them to find a solution to every problem they encounter. Are you following?"

Aizawa nodded along.

"Good. Basically, I fried her brain for a bit. A.I. can't resist thinking about paradoxes, so I just blurted out the first one I could think of. 'This sentence is false.' Pretty simple, despite its paradoxical implications."

"I hadn't thought of that, I guess it makes sense. You know a lot about computers and such?"

"Yeah, it was pretty much the only thing I had to keep myself entertained."

"It's an impressive skill to possess."

Midoriya ducked his head, red to his ears.

"Thanks. Can I ask you a question?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"Why'd you ask if I spoke Japanese? You heard me speaking to Glados."

Aizawa paused. He hadn't noticed. He shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"I was...flustered. Slipped up. I wasn't exactly clued in to what was going on down there. I made a rookie mistake, but you're safe, so it's in the past."

Midoriya burst into giggles. Aizawa hid in his scarf. Midoriya laughed at him. 

"Problem child..." He whispered.

***

The detective introduced himself as Tsukauchi. He was working in the police force, and was assigned to Midoriya's case.

"So, I'll be asking some personal questions, as well as the normal. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, feel free to tell me, and we can finish this later. Are you ready to start?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright, please state your name and age."

"I'm Midoriya Izuku, and I'm thirteen years old."

Midoriya noticed Aizawa flinch slightly. He probably wouldn't even have noticed if Glados hadn't put him through so many concentration and observation test chambers. He didn't linger on the thought.

"Ok, please state your education history and your quirk."

"Uh...I went to Ashikaga Elementary and Middle school here in Musutafu. I was in my second year when I ended up at Aperture. I wasn't there for the second semester. And can I ask what you mean by my quirk?"

Tsukauchi looked up from his notebook. Aizawa was staring at him, an unreadable look on his face.

"What?"

"Uh...what do you mean? Like...a habit? I guess I mutter a lot."

"I meant...as in your power."

"Power? I'm not a cartoon character."

Midoriya chuckled awkwardly. Neither of the two men reacted. Both of their eyes were wide open.

"Am I missing something?"

Aizawa snapped out of it first.

"Wait, you said Ashikaga Middle school?"

Midoriya blinked, confused.

"Uh...yes?"

Tsukauchi flinched, having some kind of conversation with Aizawa with just looks and shifts.

"You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

Aizawa looked at him, his expression practically dripping with sympathy. It was freaking him out.

"Midoriya, you said you were frozen in the gaps between the tests?"

Midoriya didn't like the change of subject.

"Yeah. I don't know how much time passed in between each, but I know it was relatively close to each other after the first time."

"First time?"

"Yeah. When I was first awoken after going there, it looked run down. I knew a lot of time had passed. Like, there was debris and plants and stuff. Even a few pigeons."

Aizawa looked back to Tsukauchi, poorly masked horror in his eyes.

"What? You're not telling me something and you're not being subtle about it."

"Kid-"

"No, tell me."

Midoriya stared the man down, unrelenting.

Aizawa sighed, and pulled up a tab on his phone. He turned it around for him to see. He paused.

The screen read: Ashikaga Middle School, ground zero of the start of the first of the Quirk Wars.

What...

"What are quirks."

It wasn't a question. Aizawa sighed.

"Quirks are supernatural abilities possessed by 80% of the world's population."

"Do you both have one?"

Aizawa and Tsukauchi nodded in tandem.

"Midoriya, this is really important, what year is it?"

Midoriya hesitated.

"I...I don't know. The last I remember it being was...2017?

Aizawa nearly fainted on the spot.

"What year is it?"

Tsukauchi pursed his lips, the pain in his eyes being so clear, Midoriya could feel it in waves.

"It's 2194."

Midoriya immediately started crying.

***

He didn't calm down for hours. Any time he thought he might be able to breathe for even a second, he just thought about how his family died without ever knowing what happened to him. His parents, his brother and sister. He'd never see them again.

Aizawa had been hugging him for the last two hours. The man was nice. Kind. He gripped the man's black shirt in an iron fist. 

When he had finally calmed down long enough to breathe, Aizawa pulled back slightly to pet his hair.

"Midoriya, you need to breathe, and take a drink, you've lost a lot of fluid."

Said boy hesitantly grasped the bottle of water he was being handed, sipping it slowly.

"...I can't believe I was there for more than a hundred years."

Aizawa pat his head again. He tried not to lean into his hand. He failed. Aizawa sat next to him on his hospital bed.

"Tsukauchi will be back soon. Is there anything you want to talk about before he gets back?"

Midoriya pondered it for a moment, wiping his eyes with the back of his free hand.

"...I guess. What's the world like now?"

Aizawa hummed.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"Ok, what is society like? What's the technology like? Is the internet still a thing?"

Aizawa chuckled.

"Well, society is built on the concept of heroes. Government sanctioned individuals paid to save the public. Technology is...I don't know. I don't think it's as advanced as you might be thinking. We don't have flying cars or anything. And yes, the internet is a thing."

"Heroes? Like in movies?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool. Tell me about them?"

Aizawa spent the next hour talking about heroes. Midoriya seemed really interested in quirks, and he had asked some very intelligent questions.

"Hold on a second, no one knows what his quirk is? The number one hero in all of the world, and it's completely unknown?"

"Yeah? I don't know why you're so interested."

"Well, because! You just said all pro heroes have to have their quirks listed on that register thing. What's so special about him? It's not like his weakness is in the name."

"I don't know what to tell you, kid. I never thought too much of it."

Midoriya huffed. Aizawa hid a smile.

"So, anything else?"

"Um...Aizawa? What's going to happen to me? I don't have a quirk. Am I supposed to tell people I'm quirkless? And what about school? I haven't been to school in years. And what about life in general? Where do I go? What do I do? Will the public know about what happened to me? Wha-"

"Kid, you're rambling."

Midoriya slouched.

"I'm sorry. I'm just...so confused. About everything. Like, I don't know how I got to Aperture, or how no one found it in the hundred years I was asleep. And now? I'm stuck here. I don't belong in this time. This century. It's freaking me out."

Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder, gripping it.

"Kid, it's understandable that you're confused, and none of this is your fault. We'll cross most of those bridges when we get to them. "

The door opened. The two looked over in tandem.

"Actually, I think we can answer some of those questions."

Tsukauchi walked in with much more enthusiasm than when he'd left with. Midoriya's gaze, however, was fixed on the mouse(?) walking in behind him.

"I called Nedzu on the way back, and he wanted to meet our friend here."

Midoriya stared. Nedzu smiled. It didn't make him any more comfortable.

"Yes, yes. Aizawa, I'm glad the mission was a success!"

Aizawa noticed Nedzu didn't mention the fact that they only saved one person, and multiple heroes died in the explosion. He didn't feel the need to comment on it.

"Getting back on topic, Midoriya right?"

The boy was awestruck, but nodded shakily.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Nedzu, and I am the principal of the most prestigious hero school in the country. I was made aware of your...special circumstances from Tsukauchi, so I came up with some simple solutions, if that is alright with you?"

Midoriya nodded again, still staring. Aizawa elbowed him in the hip. The boy glared, but did snap out of his stupor.

"Wonderful! So, I'm aware that you haven't attended school after your first semester of middle school?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Now, while that isn't ideal, I happen to be very generous. Would you be interested in a catch up class of sorts? It would be at UA, and I'm sure Aizawa wouldn't mind, right?"

Aizawa blinked.

"Of course, I could get the rest of the faculty to help you with Mathematics and English. History should be focused on too."

Nedzu perked up.

"Speaking of history...tell me, would you mind filling in what we don't know? Many official files and records were lost during the Quirk Wars."

Aizawa glared at the mouse.

"...But I suppose we can cover that later on. As for living arrangements? Aizawa already agreed to watch you for the time being, but if you allow us to take a DNA test, we could see if we could find any of your relatives. Would you be interested in that?"

Midoriya was so...he didn't even know. He wiped his eyes again. He'd started crying at some point. Aizawa pat his back as he dried off his face. His relatives? It would be weird, but he wanted some shred of his family left.

"I'll do it, and Aizawa? As long as you don't mind, I would like to stay with you, please."

Aizawa smiled ìn a comforting way. It made him feel better.

"Perfect, now we have that covered, there's just a few more things we should iron out. There was no footage, but there has been talk of you in the media. No name was released, but we are putting in a request that it stays that way. As for your quirk, I assume you would like to name it?"

Midoriya sat up, confused.

"I don't have a quirk though."

Nedzu's smile turned into more of a smirk.

"Oh but you do! Look at your hands, you can create portals from an unknown power source. That sounds like it could be a rather impressive quirk."

Midoriya hesitated. He could...make it his own. Make these changes _his_. He liked the sound of that. 

"Um...I guess it could, but I don't know what I would even call it."

Aizawa tilted his head. 

"Sometimes, staying simple is easiest. You could just call it Portal."

"...ok, Portal it is then."

Tsukauchi nodded and wrote something down in his notebook.

Nedzu took a few steps forward.

"Alright, the last thing we must discuss. You aren't on any government records. I took the liberty of checking on the way here, and nothing came up. We could put you into Witness Protection, but there doesn't seem to be a point in that. We could explain your case to some government officials. I'm sure they wouldn't mind forging some records for you."

Midoriya lowered his eyebrows.

"Is that...legal?"

Nedzu chuckled.

"Why, no! But considering your circumstances, it would be irrational of them to refuse. So, what do you say?"

"Ok, my birthday is July fifteenth. Can I keep my name?"

Nedzu nodded.

"Excellent, no we have that covered, I'll let you get back to your conversation."

Midoriya waved Nedzu out, and smiled weakly at Tsukauchi as he departed. Once the door finally closed again, Midoriya slumped heavily, sighing.

"Hey, cheer up a bit kid, considering the way things went, I'd count this as a win."

"It's not that I'm not happy, it's just...worrying. If the government knows I'm from before quirks, are they going to want to _test_ me? I don't want to be tested again. I _won't be_."

"Hey, hey, relax. We're not going to let that happen. Do you want to head out? You're being discharged in about fifteen minutes."

Midoriya nodded, shifting to get off the bed.

***

The car ride to Aizawa's apartment was quiet. Midoriya spent most of the drive looking around. At one point, he saw a group of people with strong mutation quirks, and he pretty much didn't breathe until they'd long since passed them.

Once they'd arrived, Aizawa kicked off his boots, strolling through the room and face planting onto his couch.

"This is nice."

"Eh, it's modest, but it's kind of a mess."

Midoriya looked around at the pristine room.

"A mess, you say."

Aizawa pushed up into a sitting position, looking around the living room. It was spotless. His eyes widened.

"Uh oh."

Midoriya's head snapped back to him.

"Uh oh? What does that mean?"

There was a loud clang from the kitchen. Midoriya watched as Aizawa got up.

"What's happening? Did someone break in?"

"No, way worse than that."

"What?! What's worse than a break-in?!"

Midoriya looked back to the kitchen when he heard a voice. It was a man...singing? Yeah, ok. Midoriya had no idea what was happening. The singing stopped.

"Shouta? That you? You're late!"

Aizawa looked even more dead inside than normal. Midoriya was fearing for his life.

The unknown man's voice rang out again, even louder than before. The door to the kitchen swung open, and Midoriya watched as a man in a...lot of leather and bright yellow hair emerged, holding a big plate of something or other.

"It's date night! There you ar-"

The man broke into a scream when he saw Midoriya. His head snapped over to Aizawa.

"Uh...Shouta? Husband, light of my life? Why is there a teenage boy in our apartment?"

Midoriya snickered at Aizawa's face. He looked constipated. Aizawa sighed heavily when Midoriya burst into giggles.

"Hizashi, this is Midoriya. You know, the boy I saved on the important mission. The one that I told you I'd be watching for a few days."

Aizawa's tone was dripping with sarcasm, and Midoriya had to cover his mouth as he laughed harder. He was bent over, clutching his side.

Hizashi, as Aizawa had called him, robotically placed the full plate down, walked to another room in the apartment and returned a few moments later in more...appropriate clothing.

"Of course! What's up listener, I'm Yamada, but you can call me whatever, Hizashi, Present Mic, whichever you prefer."

Midoriya chuckled, but still shook the man's outstretched hand.

"Nice to meet you, Yamada. Thank you for having me!"

Midoriya bowed, and Aizawa sighed.

"Did you not get my message?"

Yamada turned to his husband(?). 

"Oh, no. I left my phone at the agency, but I was told you'd be back tonight. I figured I could at least make you dinner."

Midoriya snickered again.

"At least, you say."

Yamada turned to the boy, smiling.

"You tell a soul, and they won't find your body."

Midoriya smiled sweetly.

"Try me, bitch."

The two broke off into uproarious laughter. Aizawa threw himself back onto the couch.

"Oh god, there's two of them."

"Shut up and get your ass over here, I made you dinner."

After a delicious meal, Aizawa presented Midoriya with a shirt and some sweatpants.

"To replace the jumpsuit."

Midoriya belatedly realised he'd never changed out of it. He made quick work in the shower, not wanting to spend too much time looking at his body.

When he reappeared in the living room, Yamada and Aizawa were on the couch, an awfully chubby cat lying across their laps.

"You guys have a cat?"

Yamada chuckled.

"Yep! She's really sweet, but her last owners overfed her. We're helping to get her back into shape."

Midoriya kneeled down in front of the cat. She blinked at him before meowing.

"She wants you to pet her."

Midoriya raised right hand. About an inch before her fur, he hesitated.

"M...my hands."

Aizawa's eyes widened.

"Hey, I'm sure it'll be fine. Just be gentle, and if you think you'll hurt her you can stop."

Midoriya bit his lip, lifting his hand once again.

She purred loudly when his hand reached her back. He giggled to himself.

"See? She loves you already."

"What's her name?"

Aizawa and Yamada made eye contact, smirking.

"Well, funny story. I call her Bastard, and Yamada calls her Chonk. She responds to both, so we just stuck with it."

Midoriya laughed to himself.

"I think I'll call her Chonk."

Yamada let out a quiet 'whoop!'.

"Told you, you owe me a coffee."

Aizawa rolled his eyes. Chonk leapt onto Midoriya's head. He fell back, laughing. She got comfortable on his chest, and he stopped moving.

"You can never move again."

Midoriya smiled.

"Yeah, I think I live here now."

***

When Midoriya woke up, he was in a bed. A really, really soft bed. He sighed and tucked his head into the pillow.

"Hero."

Midoriya blinked. Looking up, there it stood, watching him. 

"Rhett! You're ok!"

"They found me."

"I'm so glad. When did you get here?'

"Earlier. I was dropped off."

Midoriya nodded, yawning. He stood up, patting Rhett. Walking past, he made his way through the apartment. In the kitchen, he found Yamada making coffee. His long blond hair was hanging by his waist.

"You have really long hair."

The man startled, turning. He smiled when he saw Midoriya.

"Why thank you! I've been growing it out since high school."

Midoriya walked into the kitchen, leaning on the counter.

"Really? Why is that?"

Yamada shrugged, pouring an ungodly amount of sugar into one mug.

"I don't know. I thought it would look cool, I guess. And it does! I've been gelling it up for a while, and I started getting so many compliments!"

Midoriya grinned.

"Speaking of long hair, you aren't looking too shabby yourself."

Midoriya touched his bushy hair. It was getting long. It was almost halfway down his neck.

"Huh, I can't believe I never noticed."

Yamada laughed, pating his shoulders.

"Eh, whatever. It looks cool. Here, turn around."

Midoriya complied, waiting for the man to do whatever it was he was doing. He felt a brush running through his notoriously curly hair, and before he knew it Yamada pat his shoulders again.

"There you go, one stylish ponytail, just for you."

Midoriya looked in the mirror Yamada had just presented to him. Huh.

"That...actually looks nice. Thank you."

"Don't mention it, and I think it suits you."

Yamads turned back to the coffee while Midoriya stroked Chonk's fur.

"Hey Midoriya? Mind bringing this in to Shouta for me?"

Midoriya looked to Yamada, who was holding a coffee mug outstretched to him.

"Oh! Yeah sure."

Aizawa was asleep. Or...very good at pretending. Midoriya didn't know what to do. He put the mug down on the nightstand and started poking the man's face. Nothing. He tries tickling him, but alas, the man wasn't ticklish. Finally, he sat on Aizawa's stomach. That got a reaction.

"Christ kid, how much do you weigh?"

Aizawa pushed him off and sat up.

"I don't know. Maybe heavier than most other thirteen year olds?"

Aizawa hummed, sipping the piping hot coffee. Midoriya said a silent prayer for his tastebuds.

"Ok kid, I'm awake. Want to go to UA today? We could get a head start on your catch up work?"

"Ok! I didn't really have any other plans, anyway.

***

UA was _insane_. It was so big. So modern looking. So...wow. Midoriya tried taking it all in as he walked through the massive metal gate. There were hedges and trees and a few ponds. He could see training areas littered all over the campus, but the main building was by far the most impressive.

"Woah, how many floors are there in here?"

"Five."

"Woah."

It was after nine, so there were no students loitering about. He was glad about that. Aizawa wasn't sure he wanted Midoriya to meet so many quirked people at once. The boy was entertained, at least.

"This place is so cool! No wonder it's the top school in the country."

"Top hero school."

Midoriya rolled his eyes playfully.

"Whatever. So what will I be doing first?"

"I was thinking we could start with Japanese, just to make sure you still know how to write and read and whatnot. After that, Ectoplasm said he'd help with Mathematics, and Nedzu wanted to do Science with you."

"Cool. Speaking of Nedzu. What is he? Is that a quirk?"

Aizawa huffed out a laugh.

"Nah, he's a cryptid. And it's not a mutation quirk, but he does have an intelligence booster quirk."

"Interesting."

Midoriya, Aizawa realised, must have been at the top of his classes before Aperture. He had a wide vocabulary, good penmanship, and was eager to learn more. Ectoplasm had told him the boy was at a much higher mathematics level than predicted. Around second year of high school level, he'd said. 

That had been...interesting? Concerning? Either way, he was waiting for Midoriya in the staff room, when he bumped into Midnight.

"Oh, Aizawa! You didn't tell me you were back."

"I thought Nedzu or Hizashi would've mentioned it already."

"Nope! It's good to see you again! Now, tell me all the details."

"Do we have to do this now? I'm waiting fo-"

"Aizawa? You in here?"

Midoriya spotted him from across the room.

"There you are. Nedzu said I'm done for the day. Are you ready to go?"

Midnight stared at the kid. Black and green hair. Green eyes.

"Shouta, you son of a bitch, you didn't tell me you had a _son_!"

Aizawa choked. Midoriya was howling laughing.

"Oh, I like you, what's your name?"

"So forward! I'm Midnight! I went to school with Shouta and Hizashi. I basically set them up."

"Then I thank you for your service!"

Midnight laughed, putting an arm around Midoriya. They both watched as Aizawa failed to compose himself.

"Oh god, this was a bad idea."

"Are you kidding me? How else would I become..."

"Midoriya Izuku"

"Midoriya's favourite aunt!"

"Already electing yourself the favourite? Awfully bold of you."

"Oh, you little punk, I love this kid!"

Aizawa sighed, walking towards the door.

"Alright, I guess I got to go, see you tomorrow?"

Midnight smiled.

"Obviously, see ya later kid!"

Midoriya followed Aizawa out of the school building. The two were walking in companionable silence. Midoriya allowed his mind to wander as they made their way across the courtyard. It scared him how fast things changed. He went from a hamster in someone's maze to a person. Just like his old life had been, plus a few key factors. His talk with Nedzu had been frightening at best. There was so much of human history that they'd forgotten because of some wars over superpowers.

The idea of a war starting, not because of power hungry maniacs, but because of supernatural gifts made him worry for the state of the world. Were quirkless people shunned? Was there a lasting resentment from those blessed with quirks? Midoriya, very briefly, was thankful for the odd 'power' he'd come to possess. He knew he wouldn't want to grow up an outsider in a world full of specials.

He looked at his hand, watching as it shifted back into the portal gun. Idly, he thought he might as well be quirkless. He knew the portals could only be cast on...wait.

The hospital room. He'd cast portals onto the walls. Going by what Glados told him, that shouldn't have happened.

Ever.

He stopped in his tracks. Aizawa kept walking a few paces before he realised Midoriya wasn't following him anymore. He watched him, curious.

"Aizawa, back at the hospital...did I actually make portals or did I dream it?"

Aizawa looked concerned, but responded anyways.

"You did. You showed me. You made a chair fall through the floor and have it land beside me. And I threw a notebook through one. Is everything alright, kid?"

Midoriya hesitated. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. Was it alright? It shouldn't be possible. So...

What happened?

Out of curiosity, he shot a portal at the ground in front of him. It appeared. The blue glow was highlighting his face, and he could see Aizawa looking at it. He cast the orange portal on the concrete under a fallen branch. The branch fell and rose up in front of him. He grasped it in one hand.

"I...I shouldn't have been able to do this."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

Midoriya turned to one of the many trees lining the courtyard. He shot a portal at it.

Nothing happened. 

He shot the same portal back on the concrete in front of him.

It opened.

He shivered, letting his hands shift back. He dropped the branch.

"...Can we go? I don't want to think too much about this."

Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder. Midoriya hadn't realised he had come over.

"Yeah, we can go. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be okay, I just need to do some... _research_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much for your continued support and all the comments on the last chapter!!!!


	3. Up the Wolves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly filler, setting up for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhhhhhh whassup? I have no update schedule lmao, so sorry to those who were expecting weekly updates or something
> 
> And I've had exams, which was not fun but lol whatever

Midoriya slammed his head into the desk again. His research had hit a serious roadblock. Is this how Glados felt everytime a test subject died? 

Midoriya rubbed his head and stood up. After face planting on his bed, he turned to Rhett, who'd been silent for the last while.

"Hey Rhett? Why can't I figure this out? I spent...forever in that facility, and I'm no closer to understanding how the technology works. It's literally inside me and I genuinely don't know how it operates. Does that make me an idiot? Ugh."

Rhett made a few clicking noises. Midoriya smushed his face into his pillow, fully intended on having a long nap.

"Moon rocks."

Midoriya shuffled from his hard-to-breathe position. 

"Glados told me that already. Moon rocks, ground up into powder, or whatever. What are the odds of moon rocks being _everywhere_ in Japan?"

Rhett beeped. Midoriya had come to understand that this particular beep meant it was unhappy or annoyed.

"What?"

"Composition."

"What composition? Moon composition?"

Rhett clicked again.

"...what kind of rock is the moon?"

Midoriya pondered it a moment before pulling out the phone Aizawa had gotten him. It wasn't the newest model by any means, but Midoriya still loved it. He'd taken an unexpected selfie with the tired man, and immediately set it as his screen saver.

A quick search revealed that the moon was mostly made up of volcanic rock. Basalt, to be specific.

Midoriya hummed.

Curious.

He turned back to Rhett, who was following his movement up until then.

"Thanks buddy, it's not a concrete answer, but at least I have a lead."

Rhett made a happy chirp, and the light of it's eye turned off.

Midoriya made his way back through the apartment to the kitchen. He'd been really awkward, at first. He felt like he was invading on their space, but Aizawa, and Yamada specifically, made it clear they really didn't mind watching him. He was still a bit uncomfortable, but considering his last living arrangements, he was a thousand times better off.

Aizawa was in the kitchen, pouring some food into Chonk's bowl.

"Didn't Yamada feed her already?"

Aizawa looked like he blue screened. He slowly, slowly turned to him.

"Did he?"

His voice was scarily flat, and his eyes showed no emotion, but his fists projected the clearest message.

'Someone is about to die.'

Midoriya snorted to himself, moving past Aizawa to take the bowl away from a meowing Chonk. She'd get over it, but he always hated upsetting her.

"I'm going to kill him."

Midoriya rolled his eyes.

"No, you won't."

Aizawa dumped the bag of food back to its designated resting spot in the closet.

"No, I won't."

Aizawa moved back towards him, leaning on the counter.

"So, did this research of yours prove useful?"

Midoriya sighed.

"Kind of? I don't know. I have an idea, but it'll take a hell of a lot of time to prove it."

Aizawa shrugged.

"It's better than nothing."

"Well, I have Rhett to thank for that."

Aizawa shifted where he stood, and Midoriya followed him as he walked to the couch. Once they were both comfortable, Aizawa spoke up again.

"Speaking of your talking robot buddy, could you...explain what it is to me? I'm just a bit lost."

"Oh, of course. Rhett is what's called a 'turret'. At Aperture, they were used during certain test chambers to add an extra layer of difficulty to the problem."

"Ok, so why do you have one?"

"Well, Rhett's different. I don't know how, but it became self aware. See, turrets are only supposed to inconvenience the test subject. They're full of bullets, and their only objective is to blast anything that moves."

"I'm not feeling that confident about welcoming one into my home."

Midoriya chuckled.

"Rhett isn't going to shoot you, or me. See, I knew Rhett was different because we had a conversation. Turrets are only programmed to have a certain number of sayings, that are activated depending on the circumstances. For example, if I was spotted by a turret, but ducked out of view, they would say 'are you still there?'. It's hella creepy, but you get used to it over time."

Aizawa nodded, still looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Do...do you not want me to keep Rhett in the apartment?"

The man shook his head, and Midoriya let out a small sigh of relief.

"That's not the problem I'm having here. Kid, I'm sorry that you went through that at all."

Midoriya shrugged, feeling a bit uneasy.

"It's whatever. It happened, it's in the past, I don't want to think about it too much."

"Midoriya-"

"I _don't_ want to talk about it."

Aizawa held eye contact with him for a few painstaking seconds, but finally turned, exhaling.

"Ok, I won't force you to, and I don't want you to think I'm pressuring you into answering, but you know you can talk to me about what happened, right?"

Midoriya let out a breath, leaving back into the couch.

"...yeah, I know. I'm sorry for snapping."

"It's my fault, I shouldn't have pushed you."

Midoriya tapped his thighs for a few quiet minutes.

"Uh...Aizawa?"

"Yes?"

"Could we...I don't really have clothes. Could we..."

Aizawa snapped his head up.

"Oh shit, yeah. Let's go."

"Right now?"

Aizawa was already holding his car keys, toeing on his shoes.

"Yeah, better now than never."

Midoriya huffed, but followed him out.

***

The mall was...packed. Kind of. There was a fairly big crowd. It was still more people than Midoriya had seen at one time in forever. He caught himself staring at some of the more stand out mutations for far longer than what would be considered socially acceptable. 

Aizawa clearly noticed, and everytime his eyes would wander for too long, he'd get an elbow in the side. It worked though, so he wasn't complaining.

There were so many places they needed to stop at. First they bought a shit ton of graphic shirts and pants. Enough to last him a while. They got socks and some hair ties at another shop. After a few hours, Midoriya had gotten enough outfits to last until winter, and enough socks to choke a hungry hungry hippo. Was that still a thing?

"Aizawa?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you heard of a game with hungry hippos in it?"

Aizawa looked at him like he'd grown an extra head.

"I'll take that as a no. Oh! Can we stop here? I want to get some stationary and things."

A stack of notebooks and colourful pens later, they were hungry, tired, and in need of a break.

The duo stopped to get a late lunch at a quaint coffee shop. Midoriya got a hot chocolate. Aizawa requested coffee strong enough to kill a horse.

"So, is there anything you want to chat about?"

Midoriya raised an eyebrow.

"You're not great at small talk, huh?"

"We're talking, aren't we?"

He raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Alright, alright. I'll give you that."

"Anything you want to talk about, Aizawa?"

"Yeah, actually. Do you have any idea of what you want to do after all this?"

That gave the boy pause.

"I...haven't really given it much thought. I mean, are there even the same careers as when I was younger?"

Aizawa chuckled lightly.

"For the most part, I'm gonna hazard a guess and say 'yeah'. There are some professions that I don't think you would have had."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, the main one being heroes, obviously. But there are jobs associated with heroes, too. Like support heroes, the people who develop tech and strategies, and members of the Hero Commission. Heck, even some kinds of doctors are 'new'."

Midoriya blinked.

"New doctors?"

"Quirkologists."

He nodded, somewhat out of it.

"Man, things are so...normal? I don't think I could ever get used to all this, even if I had been born into this generation. I feel like I'd never get bored."

Aizawa hummed, stirring his coffee.

"Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. That's partially why lots of people become heroes. To keep life interesting."

"What's it like?"

"Being a hero?"

Midoriya nodded, giving the man his undivided attention.

"Well...it's hard. Not to say it's difficult, it is, but it's...taxing. Emotionally. Sometimes raids or missions just don't work out, and sometimes you can't save people, so it's hard. It can be liberating, at times. Heroes are allowed to use their quirks whenever, and a lot of people are fond of that."

"If it's such an attractive career choice, why don't more people go for it?"

"Good question, kid. It's a mixture of competition and ease of entry. Being a spotlight hero means, naturally, you have to fight for attention. Being a good hero means nothing to the media if you're not in the public eye. You're constantly competing with and being compared to your peers. It's all one big popularity contest. That's why I prefer to stay underground."

Midoriya nodded along, clearly invested.

"And as for ease of entry? It's not easy to get into a hero school."

"Wait, speaking of hero schools. There's schools set up to train children?"

"Well, when you say it like that it sounds a lot less glamorous. But you're right. There are hero high schools all over the country, like UA, set up to train children into heroes. UA is a bit different, though. Most schools only offer a hero course, like Shiketsu, while UA has the Support course, the Business course and Gen Ed."

"Interesting. So Support and Business are associated with hero culture, but Gen Ed is...what? Just to offer a normal course as well?"

"Honestly, I don't know why we offer a General course, but I'm glad we do. If Gen Ed hadn't been a thing, I wouldn't have gone to UA."

Midoriya did a double take.

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

"My quirk is not combat oriented. I got into the hero course later in the school year."

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask about that. What is your quirk?"

Aizawa activated it for him. His eyes flashed crimson, and his hair floated up around him.

"I'm...not sure what I'm looking at."

The man let it drop. Right, he reminded himself, the kid didn't have a quirk.

"It's called Erasure. Basically, I can cancel someone's quirk for as long as I keep my eyes open. The floating hair and red eyes are just part of it."

Midoriya's eyes shined with curiosity.

"That is so interesting! No wonder you're a hero, your quirk is literally perfect for one on one fights! Not to mention it's good for de-escalating situations. I'm confused though, why would it matter if your quirk isn't physical?"

Aizawa sighed, taking a long drink from his coffee. It was far too weak for his likings.

"Well, the UA entrance exam is unfair. Easy as that. There's the written portion as well, but that's more of a formality than anything else. The practical side of the test is made for students with powerful quirks to show off in combat, but if you don't have a physical quirk..."

Midoriya took the cue.

"...you're being set up to fail. How is that fair?"

Aizawa sighed deeply.

"It isn't. Nedzu has tried to have it changed hundreds of times, but the Hero Commission has to agree with what we do. Every time we send in a new idea, they shoot it down. Out of spite, we added a method to get points without wrecking robots, but we can't tell the students. It's not much better, but it's something."

Midoriya pondered the implications of such an exam as he finished his now cold drink. Aizawa paid, and the two were off again. They didn't linger too long, and it was getting late, so they made their way back to the apartment.

After putting away all the bags, they sat down on the couch again. Yamada still wasn't back yet, so they were going to wait before starting dinner.

"Hey kid? You know you never answered my question earlier."

"Question?"

"About what you want to do with yourself."

Midoriya looked off into nowhere. Chonk was purring happily as he stroked her fur.

"...I think I want to be a hero."

Aizawa felt himself smile.

"A noble path to take."

Midoriya smirked. Aizawa sweat dropped.

"And thank you for telling me exactly what to do to pass."

Aizawa smacked himself.

"Oh, you little bastard."

Midoriya burst out laughing as Chonk looked up expectantly.

***

Training with Aizawa was hell. The man was strong and well versed in martial arts. As much as Midoriya loathed to admit it, he should probably learn some form of self defense. If he was in a situation where there was nowhere to land his portals, he'd be inconvenienced, but not beaten. Glados made sure he was able to think around problems like that.

Aizawa had complimented his strength in passing, clearly not wanting to linger on the subject too much. Midoriya appreciated the effort, but he knew exactly why he was physically in shape, whether he wanted to think about it or not.

Quirkless sparring, Midoriya came to find, was quite cathartic. He didn't like hurting people much, but against an opponent who could defend themselves? It was nice to let off some steam. That, and it was funny seeing Aizawa's reaction to being beaten every once in a while. Aizawa gradually stopped holding back as much, and Midoriya got more confident in his moves.

It was a win-win, really. Plus, it was a good way to pass the time. Between his catch up classes at UA and trying to figure out why his portals could be placed outside the facility, he didn't really do much with his day. It's not like he had friends to spend time with, or any of the extra curriculars he used to take.

Aizawa didn't mention it at any point, so Midoriya just...didn't tell him. He might regret that in time, but he didn't really feel up to spilling his guts out.

Either way, he was distracted, and Aizawa knocked him off his feet. His weird, metal, sturdy feet. 

It had been fun to show the man how much force they could withstand. It was the only 'modification' he'd explained so far, and Aizawa had nearly passed out when Midoriya dived off the roof of the apartment block, only to land in a crouch.

Aizawa had flinched, expected the sickening crunch of at least twenty bones, but nothing happened. The boy had stood up, laughed it off, and went back to jogging.

Oh yeah. Jogging. Aizawa had him run around a lot. Since he asked the man to train him, really. It had been a few months, and Midoriya had come to enjoy jogging as much as sparring.

"Kid, you have to focus on the fight if you don't want to bruise your tailbone."

Aizawa's tone was light, but Midoriya still flushed with embarrassment.

"Sorry, I was just...thinking."

"As you should be, the entrance exam is coming up soon and you need to be on the top of your game. I just don't want to kick you around like a football when I know you can take me down in a fight."

Midoriya's smile slanted awkwardly. He wasn't used to receiving compliments. He basically got _one_ from Glados during his entire stay, and he didn't really remember many conversations he'd had before Aperture.

"Thanks, but I don't think you should give me that much credit."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, and leaned back into a fighting stance. About five gruelling minutes later, Aizawa was in a chokehold. He tapped out. Midoriya only felt a little bit guilty.

"See? There's the crazy strong kid. Keep your head clear and you'll do great."

Midoriya took a long drink of water, panting in between sips.

"Thanks, but you don't make it easy."

They finished up fairly soon after, and Midoriya was whisked off to Nedzu's office for a chat and some 'class'. His classes with Nedzu had started out as science, but had quickly derailed. They mostly worked on whatever Nedzu was curious about, and there was a lot that the mouse was curious about.

"So your school's curriculum was actually ahead of the current first years? Curious. It makes me wonder why a middle school had more advanced classes a hundred years ago."

"I don't know, but it wasn't easy by any means, we just had to get through it."

Nedzu hummed. 

"And what about society? Were there many notable events in 2017?"

Midoriya sipped his tea.

"When weren't there notable events? So much happens in such a short space of time. England was in the midst of trying to leave the EU, global warming was becoming a major issue, and there was a crazy big hurricane in America."

"Hurricane?"

"Yeah, Ophelia I think?"

"How interesting! Tell me, what do you know about the world wars, pre quirk era, obviously."

"World wars? Oh...well, the first one was because some guy was shot, and it lasted from 1914 to 1918. Germany was given most of the blame, and then Hitler came into power after it. He caused the second war, but he killed himself towards the end, because his enemies were closing in on him."

"And what years did that war range from?"

"Oh, 1939 to 1945, why do you ask?"

"Well, when the quirk wars were raging, many official documents and databases were destroyed. It pains me to say that the humans lost a lot of their own history."

Midoriya's eyebrows lowered.

"The humans? That's an odd way to phrase it."

Nedzu chuckled.

"Ah, I see the confusion. I myself am in fact, not a human! My apologies for not telling you sooner."

"Oh...oh. I thought you just had a 'mutation' quirk or something. But...what does that make you, then?"

"In this day and age, quirks are more common than no quirks. In the last two decades or so, some animals have shown to possess quirks as well, though it's far less common. I happen to have a quirk that I call High Specs! I have a far more developed brain than most animals, and I am more intelligent than plenty of humans!"

"Animals with quirks? Wow, that is so...disturbing."

Nedzu stalled. 

"Disturbing? How so?"

"Well, did animals have quirks _before_ humans?"

"As far as we are aware, no."

"Right, so where did animals get quirks from? Surely if animals and humans had all the same requirements, they would have developed at equal rates?"

Nedzu didn't like where he was going with this.

"I'm not sure. May I ask what your point is?"

Midoriya sighed deeply.

"Ok, have you ever heard of how syphilis started circulating? It was only present in llamas, and not humans. But when Columbus returned from America, he had contracted it."

Nedzu was shaking, from anger or mirth, Midoriya couldn't tell.

"So...you're suggesting that humans are the reason some animals have quirks?"

"Well, that's not how I would have said it, but sure? It's still cool that other animals can have quirks, but I just hope to whatever fucking deity might hear me that they didn't come from humans."

Nedzu tried not to snort.

"Well, thank you for this...enlightening conversation, Midoriya. I'll let you get back to Shouta now. And Midoriya? Good luck in the exam!"

"Thanks, Nedzu."

***

Midoriya was buying milk. Easy as that. He and Aizawa had walked home, only to discover that Chonk had broken into the fridge and knocked the bottle off of rhe shelf. The smug feline had looked directly at them as she lapped up the milk that had spilled absolutely everywhere. Aizawa had briefly looked like he was ejecting his soul from his body, before snapping back into action.

The man picked up the hefty cat, and dropped her into a cardboard box they had lying in the hall. The front of the box had been scrawled on in black marker. 'Imprisoned for her crimes.' The first time Aizawa had dropped her in it, Midoriya had felt bad. Now, he giggled as she meowed at them.

Aizawa had started mopping up the milk in a painful circle with an old mop looking thing. It was clearly ancient, but Aizawa refused the tissues and cloth Midoriya offered him. He'd requested the boy make a quick run to the local market. It was a five minute walk away, but Midoriya was still nervous.

It was his first time leaving the apartment by himself, or at least, without Aizawa or Yamada keeping an eye on him. Before, he probably would've complained about them practically stalking him, but he was actually happy for the company, and the fact that it made him feel safe.

He swore it would be a quick shopping run. In and out in a flash. He paid for the milk and began the walk back to the apartment when he heard an explosion from a few streets away. He looked in the direction of the apartment.

"I have a few minutes to kill, I guess."

Aizawa had told Midoriya that 'villain' attacks were very common. They had stopped to watch one or two in the past, mostly so Midoriya could make note of the quirks and fighting styles, but they never lingered. There were already so many other people converging in the street...

...He let his feet carry him to the corner, where the crowd had gathered. It was difficult to push through all the onlookers, but he shouldered his way to the barricades.

There was a massive...thing. It reminded him of Swamp Thing, or one of the comic book villains he used to love. It looked like a massive ball of sludge. There were a few pro heroes already at the scene, but he noticed that none of them were really doing anything.

There was a boy. Midoriya froze when he saw blond hair poke out from the side of the sludge thing. 

"He's drowning."

The man next to him spared him a glance before turning back to the fight. 

"Why are they not doing anything?!"

A woman to his right turned to him. He idly noticed she was holding a microphone.

"None of their quirks are that helpful in this scenario. It's unfortunate, but they're waiting for a better suited pro."

He turned back to the boy. His face was visible from the nose up, his _mouth_ and nostrils coated in what looked like the mouth of the sludge thing. He pried his blood red eyes open.

Midoriya stilled. They made eye contact, but it felt like the boy wasn't really _seeing_ him.

He pushed the milk into the arms of the man next to him, with a brief mutter of 'hold this', before vaulting over the barricade. 

He outran Death Arms and ducked right as a slimy tendril flew at him. He threw two portals, one in front of him, and one on a wall above the sludge villain. 

He thanked his lucky stars they both landed.

Throwing himself through the portal, he landed on the sludge freak, gripping his eyes in his hands.

"Hey! You bastard, never look down the operational end of the device!"

The sludge guy screeched and writhed, trying to get his eyes out of the boys grip. He threw out the blond, unintentionally, Midoriya presumed.

There was a gasp from the crowd, and next thing Midoriya knew he was being hauled to the side by a hella buff guy with ridiculous yellow-blond hair.

"Do not fear, for I am here!"

The dude punched the slime thing, blasting it in a massive gust of wind.

Once everything calmed down, Midoriya heard the same guy from the crowd.

"He changed the weather?"

He looked up. There were now, in fact, rain clouds. 

Spooky.

The man raised a fist, and the crowd started cheering his name.

_"All Might! All Might! All Might!"_

Oh, Midoriya thought, the number one hero.

He stood up and brushed himself off. Glancing around, he met the eyes of the blond he'd saved.

The boy was just...staring at him.

Midoriya raised a hand in an awkward wave.

The boy just looked more lost.

Midoriya immediately got defensive. Probably a mistake in hindsight.

"What, never seen a guy with prosthetics? You ableist piece of shit."

The blond blinked a few times, still not saying anything.

Midoriya shrugged, grabbed his milk from the guy in the crowd and walked back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all for reading bros, I appreciate each and every comment I receive!!!


	4. Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter, and a long overdue conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all,,,,,I'm losing my mind. Y'all are SO NICE?@??@?!?!?? 
> 
> Thank you all so much for all the positive feedback on this, and thank you to everyone who left a comment on the last few chapters.
> 
> Also,,,,I'm actually screaming. The cryptid Cyber-Phobia herself is aware of my fic???? I'm McLosing it y'all 
> 
> Last thing, I will be changing Midoriya's family a bit, you'll get what I mean in the future, but for now, Mido had a sister, but she's only going to be mentioned in passing

...Or he at least tried to. The second he grabbed the bottle of milk from the rando in the crowd, one of the pro heroes who'd done jack shit decided it would be a good idea to drag him over to the curb and give him a lecture. Not only did Kamui Woods and Death Arms praise his 'quirk', they told him that, though he was reckless, he did save they boy, Bakugou, he was told.

"You're lucky All Might got here in time, or you would have to relay this whole thing to the police."

Midoriya blinked.

"Actually, I have a question."

Kamui stood up a bit straighter when Midoriya took a step closer to him, while Death Arms just raised an eyebrow.

"So, public quirk use is like...illegal, right?"

The both of the men looked caught off guard. Kamui cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. It's common knowledge."

Midoriya closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before exhaling angrily.

"So you two are saying that I should be facing charges, but I'm not because of...what, favouritism?"

Death Arms puffed out his chest.

"Hey, we're letting you off easy, be thankful and leave before we have to do our jobs."

Midoriya stared at him. He'd faced authority figures far scarier than this man, and the press was literally two metres away from them. So, Midoriya thought, in the immortal words of that one dude, 

Whatcha gon' do?

"Your jobs? As in, your jobs as government sanctioned weapons? Heroes aren't allowed to make official arrests, and I thought your job was to protect civilians. I didn't see you stopping that slime prick."

Kamui kept glancing in the direction of the cameras, and the crowd that was paying a lot more attention to them. Death Arms sweat dropped.

"Hey, show some r-"

"Respect? You expect me to respect you when you let that blond kid nearly drown? Harsh, I didn't realise heroes prioritised their own safety over the safety of others."

Kamui's gaze snapped back over to him.

"Woah, that's out of line."

"Is it? There were plenty of things you could have done to help him. You could've gotten Mount Lady to scoop up the slime dude, or gotten that hero with the water quirk to dilute the slime. I'm just saying, you should be able to think on your feet."

Midoriya smirked at their faces. He knew the press had their cameras pointed directly at them now.

"Now, now, let's celebrate this win, shall we?"

Midoriya started when a large hand landed on his shoulder. All Might was standing tall and proud behind him, smiling so wide it looked kind of painful. 

The two pros sighed in relief, while Midoriya just shrugged.

"Good work, my boy, but in the future, please allow the pros to do their jobs!"

Midoriya rolled his eyes.

"Not this again."

All Might seemed to be confused by his reaction, and didn't expect Midoriya to brush his hand off his shoulder. As he was walking away, he ignored the calls of the pros and brushed off the stare of Bakugou.

***   
The sun had started to set over the horizon and the wind had started to pick up. Midoriya was lugging the carton of milk as he made his way home. It didn't sit right with him, that the pros would blatantly ignore protocol. And why? Because he was objectively powerful? 

It didn't make sense. Why would a world with such incredible powers and abilities have such blatant, twisted disregard for the law? Don't get him wrong, he may have jaywalked once or twice before Aperture, but letting someone get off easy because of perceived objective strength? 

It just didn't sit right with him.

Midoriya kicked a pebble on the path, watching as it bounced once, then twice before settling. He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

Abuse of power was not a foreign concept to him. There were plenty of corrupt people from his era, but he didn't expect it to be as bad more than a hundred years later. The thought gave him pause.

More than one hundred years had passed since his own generation. He idly wondered what came of his close friends. His parents. His sister. He wondered if she had children, children who would never know about him. He wondered if his parents ever had more children. 

He sighed again. He hadn't let himself think of his family in the past few months. It wouldn't lead to any good. Well...

Midoriya wiped his eyes. He was never going to see them again. Never feel the warmth of his mother's hugs, the melodic sound of his sister's laughter. His father's gentle hair ruffles. Never speak to any of his friends again. He briefly thought about what they all were told when he disappeared. Were they told? 

He blinked more tears from his eyes as he approached the apartment. He sighed, psyching himself up. He threw open the door, plastering on a fake smile.

"What the fuck? I asked you to get milk and two seconds later you're in the middle of a villain attack!"

Midoriya blinked at the forms of Aizawa and Yamada standing side by side, opposite him. He shrunk under the deadly glare.

"Well...would you believe me if I said that I was contacted by the FBI-"

"Try again, problem child."

Midoriya snorted at the nickname. Yamada kept glancing between them.

"Okay, okay. I had bought the milk, and when I started making my way home I noticed a puff of smoke and a crowd gathering two streets over. I guess I got carried away, but the pros on sight weren't doing anything! The boy was going to drown in that disgusting slime prick."

"So, what, you just decided to run in regardless of the consequences?"

Midoriya blinked.

"Yeah, pretty much. I didn't really think about it. The boy needed help. He looked right at me. I couldn't just leave him to drown. Plus, it's not like I got reprimanded in any way. The pros berated me for all of three seconds before fawning over my 'quirk'. One guy even said that he was going to 'let me off easy'. Entitled shit."

Aizawa looked unsettled by the language. Yamada giggled under his breath. Aizawa elbowed him in the gut. Midoriya huffed.

"Anyways! I started chewing them out in front of the crowd, and suddenly they're sputtering about how I should be thanking _them_ for ignoring the due process of law! I thought...I thought I was getting the hang of...all of this. This place, this time, but I keep losing track of all the differences! The other day I straight up forgot I left Aperture! I nearly passed out when I saw Rhett. I'm trying to comprehend everything that's changed, but I am just so confused!"

The two men recoiled at the outburst. Aizawa stepped forward, reaching for him. He stepped out of reach. Aizawa pretended he wasn't hurt by that.

"Look around! There are people, honest to goodness people, who are hurt or worse because of some asinine power that they aren't even allowed to use in public! People look like something straight out of the cartoons I watched as a child, and I am trying so, so hard to understand and fit in to this wack-job society but I _can't_."

Midoriya scrubbed his face, avoiding eye contact with both men. Aizawa glanced to Yamada, his eyes screaming 'what the fuck do I do?'. Yamada gestured to Midoriya, a patting motion that looked similar to giving someone a hu- _oh_.

Aizawa tugged the broken boy into his arms, squeezing him lightly. Midoriya lasted about four seconds before throwing his arms around the tired man, gripping his hoodie in an iron fist. 

"Hey, kid. Look at me, please."

Midoriya sniffled, resigned to his fate. He pulled back just enough to look the man in the eyes.

"Midoriya, I know I'll never understand, but I can empathise with you. I know you hate having to live like this, but realistically, you are going to be stuck here for a really long time. And Yamada and I, we just want to help you. All of the people aware of your case want to help you."

Midoriya pulled out of Aizawa's arms, to face him head on.

"I don't hate this era, but it isn't mine. And this is not my Musutafu. Look at you, both of you. You're able to stand in the present and say 'this is who I am, this is my home and I have never known anything else.' I don't know who I am from one day to the next. One second I'm just me, the next I'm a test subject and then suddenly I'm being thrust into a world I don't belong in. I know I'm a lot of trouble, but I have genuinely enjoyed staying with you both. Please don't take this as me not being grateful for helping me."

Aizawa looked down. Yamada pulled him into a hug. He squeezed him tightly. Midoriya pondered, briefly, about how comforting both their hugs had been. Warm and tight, but not constricting. Just like his mother's.

'Nope, stop that right this instant.'

He sighed.

"I know I haven't been the most forthcoming about what I went through, or what my life was like before, but...I want to tell you. I owe it to myself to tell you."

The two men exchanged a glance before seating themselves on the couch. Midoriya took a deep breath, and he just...let it all out. He told them about the first test he could remember, not knowing where he was or why. He told them about Glados, and her experiments. He told them about how he could hardly remember anything from the year leading up to his entrapment. He told them about his love of music and theatre. About his family.

He was out of tears when he finally got around to the hardest part to explain.

The 'modifications'.

"I've already showed you my hands, but they do more than just shifting between a portal gun and actual hands. See, the original portal gun had this really interesting and confusing function where you could just...pick things up. Like, it basically negated all of its gravity. I couldn't explain it if I tried, so I'll show you."

He knelt in front of the coffee table, his right hand outstretched. He watched as it changed shape yet again, and literally plucked the table from the floor as though it had no weight at all.

Aizawa couldn't help but notice the three light blue 'beams' that connected the gun to the table. Yamada watched on in fascination as Midoriya moved the table about, showing how the weight had no effect on his arm. He dropped the table back to the floor, standing up once again.

"As for my legs, well, Aperture Science developed the portal gun, but they also had to make sure that test subjects wouldn't permanently cripple themselves using it, so they developed a pair of boots that could absorb insane amounts of force. By that I mean you could survive jumping off a skyscraper as long as you landed on both feet. Glados kind of...gave me those. As far as I know, I don't have any of my lower legs anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if she just cut them off."

He lifted the leg of his sweat pants up to his knee, where the stark white of the prosthetic ended. The prosthetics were shaped somewhat weirdly, but in comparison to that one guy he saw with literal _engines_ in his calves, he wasn't that badly off.

He breathed out sharply. He hadn't spoken this much consecutively in forever. It was refreshing and draining at the same time.

"What else, well my eyes. I don't know why to be honest, but she replaced them with these. I can zoom in to an extent, see in the dark and my personal favourite, they glow on command."

Aizawa's eyebrows flew up. Midoriya snickered at his reaction.

"Here, I'll show you!"

He flew over to the light switch, flicking it off. He mentally flicked on the switch to his eyes, watching as Yamada and Aizawa's eyes snapped to him. He knew what they looked like, and it was kind of unsettling. It made his eyes look black, outside of his irises. Spooky.

When he was satisfied with their reactions, he flicked back on the light.

"And that's pretty much all I know. I'm sure there's other stuff, but Glados was cryptic at the best of times. The only thing I know is that I have this weird thing in the centre of my abdomen."

He lifted his shirt up to the odd, white disk planted firmly in his chest. It was around half the size of his palm and gleaming white against his scarred, pale skin. He really needed to get more sun.

Aizawa eyed the disk suspiciously. He rolled his eyes, letting his shirt fall.

"It's fine, it doesn't hurt or anything."

Aizawa relented, leaning back in the couch.

"Thank you for sharing this with us, we will be talking about this again, and not to undermine the importance of this conversation, but I got a text from Nedzu a little while ago."

Midoriya raised his eyebrows.

"He pointed out that we forgot about the requirements for application."

Midoriya instantly assumed the worst. Surely, Nedzu wouldn't _not_ let him apply? Was it his lack of a quirk? Perhaps his age? Technically he was a good hundred and fifty years older than all of the others. What abo-

"Kid!"

Midoriya snapped out of his muttering frenzy, sheepishly throwing a smile to the exhausted man.

"He pointed out that you need to have your middle school exam results."

"Oh shit, don't tell me-"

Aizawa sighed sharply.

"Yes, you will have to sit exams in-house. Luckily for you, the closest middle school is a five minute walk from here."

"Really? I'm surprised you wouldn't want to live closer to UA, but I guess I get it."

"Yeah, anyways, I'll call the school tomorrow and ask them to set up an extra table for you. Oh, and by the way, the exams are next month."

Midoriya closed his eyes, breathing as evenly as possible.

"Of course. Wonderful. Brilliant. I have one month to study like, six subjects from start to finish. I guess I should get started already. Which school will I be held hostage in?"

Aizawa snorted.

"You will be fine. And it's called Aldera. It's not the best school, but it's local, and the tests are regulated."

Midoriya nodded, thanking him and heading to his room. Yamada turned to Aizawa.

"Shouta? I think we should get Tsukauchi to find any of Midoriya's descendants. He had a sister, maybe she had children. I don't know, I think it might be good for him.

Aizawa glanced in the direction of his room.

"Yeah, I'll give him a call in the morning."

***

Midoriya was ready for his exams. Well, as ready as you can be when you have to relearn an entirely new curriculum of the same junk he had already studied. The last thing he wanted was to spend more than a day in some stuffy school filled with teenagers who wouldn't get his humour, but alas, there he was going. 

He'd decided to wear something low key, he didn't want to draw attention to himself, but mostly he didn't want people staring at his hands. It wasn't necessary, he knew, but he didn't want to talk to people if he could avoid it.

The long sleeves and gloves may have been a bad call, in hindsight. By the time he arrived at the gates to the dreary school, he was already sweating. He looked at the looming figure of the school as he made his way inside. The whole building looked shady, but it was probably underfunded, so he let the thought go.

The lady in the office directed him to the classroom, and he he took a long, deep breath before opening the door. The atmosphere in the room was...weird.

He immediately noticed that he was the last one to arrive, if the single empty table was any indication. He ignored the students lingering gazes as he approached the teacher, who somehow hadn't noticed him yet.

"Uh, hi? I'm Midoriya, I was told I'd be taking my exams in here?"

The teacher was an older man, greying and drawn out. His gaze fixed on Midoriya with something akin to disdain before it shifted to surprise. Midoriya handed him the note Aizawa had given him, and turned to make his way to his seat. 

It was in a weird spot. He expected them to slap a table in the front, near the door. Instead, he had to walk past aisles of teenagers who would not stop staring at him.

He dumped his bag on the floor, fixing them with a glare. He would admit that he was surprised by their reactions. Some turned as soon as he made eye contact, while others looked like they were looking through him.

It rubbed him the wrong way.

While he was looking around the room, he noticed the only person not looking at him. A spiky haired blond. 

'Oh', he thought. 'The sludge villain guy.'

Midoriya shifted in his seat. He'd called the guy ableist. Would you look at that, he was facing the consequences of his actions, who would've thought.

He couldn't help but notice the teacher looking pointedly between himself and the boy. 'Bakugou? Was that his name?'

He shook off the thought as the man started handing out the first of the exams. He flew through it, writing down an answer for every question in record time.

While he was waiting for his paper to be collected, he glanced at the students that kept looking at him, even during the exam. The teacher clearly didn't care about the misconduct, preferring to stare at Bakugou, who was...shaking? 

'Maybe he's not an exam kind of guy.'

After his third exam, they were given a half hour break for lunch. He waited for everyone else to start filing out before he approached the blond.

Bakugou was gripping his desk like it owed him money.

Mildly concerned, Midoriya didn't get any closer.

"Hey, Bakugou, right?"

Bakugou froze in his seat.

"Listen, I wanted to apologise for calling you ableist. It was rude of me."

Bakugou didn't react in the slightest. It was like he didn't hear him.

"Uh, hello? Anyone home?"

"Whatever, I don't care."

Bakugou still didn't look at him, but he responded, so Midoriya counted it as a win. As he made his way back to his table, he finally examined the old wood. It looked off, like someone had scraped off the top layer and slapped some varnish on instead of buying a replacement.

He didn't like the vibes he was getting from the school, the students, heck, even the teacher.

He couldn't wait to get out of there. Just three more tests to go.

He ate his lunch quickly, and spent the last five minutes pretending to check something on his phone.

As students started filling back in, he paid more attention to the looks being thrown at him. And Bakugou, for that matter. It was like they were waiting for something.

Freaky.

When he completed the last exam, he turned in his paper and made to leave a good twenty minutes before anyone else.

He bowed to the teacher as he passed, muttering a 'thanks for having me'. As he opened the door, he examined the students again. For the first time all day, Bakugou looked at him, only to jerk back when he made eye contact with him.

Midoriya left without a word. It was definitely one of the weirdest things he'd been subjected to in quite some time.

Yamada greeted him as he arrived home. Once he was seated in his pyjamas, he typed his password into his computer.

A quick search of 'Aldera Middle School, Musutafu', pulled up some news sites reporting on various things, like an old villain attack, a fire, and most recently...

A suicide.

Midoriya blinked at the page in shock.

A boy his age.

He pursed his lips. It was hard to read about things like that, and he started to understand why there was such a dark atmosphere in the class. A thought struck him.

Had...

Had he sat in that boy's seat?

He shivered at the thought. He knew he hadn't been disrespectful, but he couldn't help but feel bad.

Closing the tab, he put it out of his head as he made his way back to the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the amazing feedback, please let me know what y'all think!!!!


	5. Replay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The entrance exam begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I would like to preface that I am REALLY SORRY
> 
> I disappeared, and although I had no intention of discontinuing this, I never got around to writing more.
> 
> I can't make any promises about future chapters but I'm going to try!!!!
> 
> Also thanks for 11000 holy shit.

"Aizawa! Thank you for meeting me on such short notice."

Aizawa sat down across from the detective.

"Of course, what can I help you with?"

Tsukauchi lay his briefcase on the coffee table between them, pulling out an assortment of sheets.

"It took a while, but I got everything you asked of me. Let's see here, his new birth certificate, some information about his health and a list of relatives we could find."

Aizawa perked up a bit.

"Perfect, please, enlighten me."

"Well, his birth certificate was a lot easier to make than I'd actually thought. According to an agent I spoke with it's a lot more common than people think. His date of birth, as he requested was kept the same, and we had to make up some parents. They guaranteed no one will question it, so I guess we'll have to trust them on that."

Aizawa nodded, eyeing the certificate with scrutiny. It looked real. It kind of spooked him a bit.

"Next, the DNA test we ran on him revealed that he's actually fifteen, not thirteen like he thought. In fact, his body seems to be a bit advanced for his age. I suppose it's as normal as it can be, considering what he went through. The tests confirmed that he is healthy, but we noticed one strange thing in his DNA."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"He has quirk factor."

Aizawa recoiled slightly.

"Quirk factor? But...he shouldn't have anything close to it. Did they confirm anything else about it? Does he have a quirk he doesn't know about?"

Tsukauchi looked at him sympathetically.

"Yes, I'm afraid it's hard to say, conclusively, why he has quirk factor. They couldn't figure anything else out, to my knowledge, but it's likely. We can't check his toe bones because, during his physical examination, his doctor found that he has _three_ , as opposed to one bone. It's mind boggling, really."

Aizawa took a deep breath through his nose. This was going to take a hell of a lot of time to explain to the kid. Midoriya already had enough on his mind, what with the entrance exam coming up and his 'research' into why his portals work.

"Okay, okay okay. Anything else?"

Tsukauchi held up the last sheet.

"His relatives. We found files on his mother and sister, but nothing about his father or his brother."

"Brother? He had a brother?"

Tsukauchi looked up in surprise.

"He didn't mention him to you?"

"No? I mean, he doesn't really talk about his family at all, but he's mentioned his parents and his sister offhandedly a few times."

Tsukauchi scratched his chin.

"That is odd. But getting back on track, we found his mother's file. She died three years after he can last recall seeing his family. It was logged as natural causes, but I'm not sure what they were. As for his sister? She apparently was put into a foster system for a few years, before settling down herself."

"So you're saying..."

"Yep, she had children. We managed to track down Midoriya's closest living descendant to a 'Midoriya Inko'. Lucky for us, she lives in Musutafu! Unfortunately for us, she lost her son recently. We did get into contact with her and she said she'd be more than happy to meet him."

"Wait, you told a civilian about what happened to Midoriya? I thought Nedzu didn't want us spreading that information."

"He doesn't, but he agreed that it would be best if she was in the know about him."

"And you're sure she'll be alright to meet him? When did her son pass?"

Tsukauchi hummed.

"File said it happened ten months ago."

Aizawa pursed his lips.

"I'm not sure it would be healthy for her to meet him under these conditions."

Tsukauchi sighed, rubbing his brow.

"Normally? I'd agree with you, but...she seemed so excited to meet her...uncle? Great uncle? I didn't have the heart to disappoint her."

"I just don't want her to attach herself to him. She's mourning, and I'm worried he'll remind her too much of him."

Tsukauchi nodded, exhaling.

"Maybe we should ask Midoriya first."

Aizawa sat up in the seat.

"That's not a bad idea. Thank you, Tsukauchi."

* * *

Midoriya stretched in his room. The entrance exam was in mere hours and he was nervous. Attempting to burn off some excess energy, he did some lunges and toe touches.

Rhett's eye followed him as he started pacing around the bedroom. He triple checked his bag to make sure he had what he'd need for the written exam.

"You'll do well."

Midoriya glanced at the turret.

"You have a lot of faith in me."

Rhett clicked, annoyed. Midoriya huffed and reached out a prosthetic hand to pat its head.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I know you've been right about the future more than a few times, but this is completely up to me. Before...your predictions relied on other people, but now it's all on me if I screw up."

Rhett blinked.

Midoriya sighed, standing on tired legs. All the excess energy left him. He relaxed his shoulders and took a deep breath in, calming his heartbeat.

"Alright, I'll see you later buddy."

He threw his bag over one shoulder and made his way to the kitchen. Yamada was rooting around in the fridge. Midoriya looked into the living room. No Aizawa to be seen anywhere.

"Morning, is Aizawa still asleep?"

Yamada started when he spoke. Slamming the fridge door closed, he turned to him.

"Nope, he had a meeting with Tsukauchi this morning. He left around a half hour ago. Something wrong, little listener?"

Midoriya exhaled as he grabbed some bread to toast. He didn't think he could stomach anything heavier with his nerves.

"Nothing's wrong, I just assumed he'd be bringing me to the entrance exam."

Yamada perked up a bit.

"Oh! No worries, I'm bringing you! Plus, I'm presenting so I kind of have to be there early. Let me just change and we can head out, okay?"

Midoriya nodded and sat down to eat his plain toast.

* * *

Even though they were early, there were hero hopefuls as far as the eye could see. Yamada had dropped him off a few blocks from UA so no one would see them together.

He started ambling in towards the school where he would, hopefully, train to be a hero.

He glanced around at the other teenagers around him. He felt weird. He hadn't interacted with people his age in...at least a hundred years. He was not looking forward to his attempts at conversations.

He spotted Bakugou a few metres ahead of him. Huh, he hadn't thought the boy would be interested in heroics when they'd interacted. 

His foot caught on the pavement and he fell forward.

"Of course," he thought, "just my luck."

He let muscle memory take over as he cast two portals onto the path, falling face first into one and popping out upright from another.

"Oh! That was so cool!"

He flinched at the announcement. He spun around and came face to face with a girl with brown hair and large brown eyes.

"Uhh..."

"That's such a cool quirk! What do you call it?"

Midoriya put on a polite smile.

"Thanks, I uh, I just call it portal."

She grinned and started walking with him. He pondered what to say.

"Are you...nervous? I sure as hell am."

Her smile waned a bit, but maintained its happy glow.

"Yeah...I have a lot riding on this."

"I hear that."

She looked at him curiously.

"So, you worried about the written exam? I hear it's pretty difficult."

He hummed, scratching his neck.

"Kind of? I don't know. I really hope they don't make it too unfair."

"Yeah. Here's hoping."

They approached the administration table to sign in and collect their exam ID.

"Oh, that's disappointing. We're sitting in different sections."

He glanced at her card then back to his own. Yeah, they wouldn't be able to sit together. He might have to talk to more people. Sigh.

"Damn, that's annoying. But look, we're in the same exam arena."

She smiled.

"I guess I'll see you there! Good luck in the exam!"

He said his goodbyes and made his way to the room his written exam was to be held in.

  
The exam was difficult. There were plenty of 'knowledge' questions, but the last half of the exam was all about morality, and how to behave as a hero in bad situations. It made him uncomfortable. When he was in Aperture, other than the companion cubes, there wasn't much morality attached to the tests. Just...do or die. It was all about collecting data. Statistics. He didn't like thinking about it.

He completed it, either way, and followed the crowd to the auditorium. Making his way to his seating block, he glanced around to see if he could spot-

Her name.

He didn't ask her name.

'Goddamn it, of course.'

He fell into his seat next to a purple-haired boy who looked like, ninety percent sleep deprivation and ten percent caffeine.

"Hey."

The tired boy next to him didn't respond.

"Uh, okay. Nevermind."

Purple eyes met his green ones.

He raised an eyebrow.

Midoriya noticed how scrawny the other was. Really lanky. All 'tall' no muscle.

Curious.

The boy broke their eye contact.

He reminded Midoriya of a cat. A bitchy cat that wouldn't give you attention except under mysterious circumstances. Kind of like Chonk except Chonk immediately wanted attention.

He grinned.

"I like you, you better get into the hero course."

The other boy looked at him like he'd grown a second head. He faced forward, muttering something under his breath.

"Huh? I didn't quite catch that."

"I _said_ , I have no chance."

Midoriya blinked.

"Then why are you here?"

'Shit, that was way too blunt.'

Although, the other didn't get angry. In fact, he didn't react at all.

"I'm here because I want to be."

"I guess you do have a chance then."

"Huh?"

Midoriya grinned again.

"Fake it 'til you make it. If you act like you were born for this, you'll start believing it after a while. Improvise! If in doubt, make it up."

Purple boy looked at him with open curiosity.

"How is 'confidence' supposed to help me destroy robots?"

Midoriya pursed his lips.

"Not everyone has a physical quirk. Surely the test wouldn't allow a somewhat 'fair' alternative, even if it is completely biased."

"What?"

Midoriya sighed.

"I'm saying, how likely do you think a hero school is to turn away a student who's being heroic."

The boys eyes widened minusculy.

Midoriya pointed finger guns at him.

"I'm Midoriya."

The boy stared at him.

"...Shinsou"

Midoriya's mouth tugged into a smile. He was about to say more when the lights went down.

Yamada, all dressed up in his hero costume, strutted to his spot behind the podium.

"WHAT'S UP LISTENERS. EVERYBODY SAY _HEY_!"

Midoriya didn't hesitate.

"HEY!"

Apparently he was the only one. His voice echoed around the auditorium. The silence after his shout was deafening. Shinsou snorted next to him. Midoriya threw a half hearted glare his way.

Yamada deflated.

"Thank you to that one examinee. Alright! Let's get into the rules! All of y'all will be divided into groups for each exam arena, where you will destroy robots for corresponding points. If I may draw your attention to the screen, you'll see the one pointer, the two pointer and finally, the three pointer.

"The bots get harder to beat depending on their point value, so the one pointer is easier to beat than the two pointer, and visa versa for the three pointer. The amount of points you get will determine whether or not you get into the hero course. Moving on, g-"

A tall boy with navy blue hair shot up out of his seat.

"EXCUSE ME! I was examining the pamphlet we were provided and I couldn't help but notice you left out one opponent! This is a terrible lack of attention to detail for the top hero school in the country!"

Yamada looked at the boy over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Thank you, examinee. That particular bot is worth zero points! It's just supposed to be an obstacle. It's not unstoppable, but it's not worth anything, so I wouldn't reccomend wasting time on it."

The boy nodded sharply.

"THANK YOU."

Yamada paused before continuing his presentation.

"Alright, if you all check you exam IDs you'll see what exam arena you've been assigned. Please make your way slowly and calmly to your designated bus. Thank you all for listening! And remember UA's motto when times are tough."

Almost everyone joined in as Yamada yelled.

"Go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!"

***

Midoriya got the second bus out to his exam arena. Upon arriving, he looked around for the nice girl he'd met earlier at the entrance. 

"Oh man, that's a lot of people."

He slowly made his way to the comically oversized gates. Looking around, he was met with hundreds of nervous, unfamiliar faces. The amount of people was staggering.

Aperture popped into his head again. The loneliness was enough to drive you insane. The only reason he could keep his wits about him was the fact that Glados spoke with him frequently, even if it was just to insult him.

Seeing so many people in one spot freaked him out. Back when he was at the mall with Aizawa, it was more fresh. He was blatantly ignoring the sheer amount of people milling about, rather noticing their quirks as opposed to registering them as humans.

Looking back, that probably wasn't the best way to deal with what he was feeling.

He almost wished h-

"Oof!"

'Fuck.'

He'd walked right into someone.

He threw up his hands in apology.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

The boy he'd bumped into-the blue haired boy from the auditorium-turned to him. Standing at his full height he towered over Midoriya.

He gulped.

"As a prospective hero student, you should pay attention to your surroundings! Please be more careful!"

"Sorry, I zoned out. I didn't know."

The taller boy blinked at the apology.

"Zoned out? Are you alright?"

'Hah, if only you knew.'

"Uh, yeah. I'm just nervous."

The blue haired boy nodded, agreeing with him.

He opened his mouth to say something when Midoriya looked at his grotesquely oversized calves.

"WOAH, I've seen you before! Your legs are massive!"

Midoriya internally cringed. 'Huge legs? Come on, Izuku!'

The glasses clad boy looked momentarily taken aback, before smiling crookedly.

" _Massive_ is an interesting way to describe them. They're engines, it's my quirk."

Midoriya looked at them in awe.

"That's _sick_! Do they need fuel, or does your body just naturally produce enough juice to keep them going?"

He internally chuckled at the idea of this straight laced guy drinking motor oil or something.

"Oh, yes actually. They run on orange juice."

Midoriya blinked. He let out a breathy chuckle.

"So literally juice, that's wild."

The boy raised an eyebrow, amused.

"I must apologise, I misjudged you earlier. I assumed that because you werent paying attention, you weren't serious about being a hero."

'Ouch.'

"Don't worry about it. I'm kind of awkward, sorry."

"No need to apologise! I'm Iida, by the way."

"Midoriya, nice to meet you. How are you feeling about the practical?"

"I'm not too worried. I'm confident in my skills, and the flat roads are perfect for my quirk."

Midoriya paused.

"Flat roads?"

Iida halted his hand-chopping. He covered his mouth with a rectangular hand.

"I'm sorry, my older brother told me to keep it to myself, but I let it slip. My apologies."

"It's fine, but what did you mean?"

Iida sighed, disappointed in himself.

"My brother told me that the entrance exam is usually set in a pseudo town. With streets and alleyways."

"Oh, thanks for the info."

Iida nodded sullenly.

"Hey, I was looking for my...friend who's also in this arena, but I'll see you around! I hope to see you in school!"

Iida perked up a bit.

"Of course, don't let me distract you. I hope to see you as well!"

Midoriya grinned, taking off towards the gates again. The last few buses were arriving, so he knew he had to hurry.

He cursed his height as he searched, hopping every once in a while to see over the sea of students.

As he approached the gates, he finally spotted the brunette.

"Hey! I was getting worried I wouldn't find you! I'm Midoriya by the way."

She looked up from her stretch, surprised, before breaking out into a grin.

"Hey! I'm glad you found me. I'm Uraraka! I'm really nervous. What do you think the test will be like?"

Midoriya patted his chin.

"I don't really know. The guy with the big calves over there said it was like, a street or something."

Uraraka first pumped, letting out a little whoop.

"Is it that great?"

Uraraka waved her hands back and forth awkwardly.

"Don't get me wrong, it'll probably be hard, but my parents are construction workers, so I had a lot of stuff to practice my quirk on!"

'Construction, huh?'

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know what basalt is used for, in construction I mean."

Uraraka lit up.

"Oh! Yeah, it's used in most construction, actually! Like tarmac and concrete. I dont know exact percentages, but I know it's a significant amount!"

Midoriya nodded to himself.

"Thanks!"

Uraraka waved off the sentiments.

"Why do you want to k-"

" _GOOOOO!!!!_ "

Midoriya jerked violently, eyes snapping to Present Mic on top of the gates, that were now open, as his legs instinctively carried him forward.

He rolled his eyes as he sprinted around the first corner. A few one pointers were lined up, approaching him.

He threw two portals, one on a high building and one on the floor in front of him.

Using this momentum, he fell onto the first robot, crushing it under his shock absorbent legs.

Grabbing a metal sheet from the broken one pointer, he stabbed it through the second and third, before ducking away from the fourth.

He repeated the same portal formation, kicking the head off the fourth.

He landed, taking a deep breath. 

"That's four."

For the next few minutes, he dashed around the arena, bashing bots as he found them. The three pointers were tricky, but he found that knocking them over made it easier to wreck them. 

He passed one or two people who seemed overwhelmed by the bots, so he made an attempt to help them all. One guy with black hair helped him deck a three pointer that cornered a short kid. He threw him a thumbs up before running off again.

As the clock counted down, he ran into the main street. There were smouldering carcasses of wrecked bots littered everywhere. 

He passed Iida, smiling and waving as he flung himself through another portal.

It felt nice, using his portals so freely. His training with Aizawa was fun, tiring, but fun. The thing is though, he didn't really ask him to practice his portals. It was...weird? 

He shook out of his thoughts, flying and landing firmly on his boots.

He stood up straight, looking around.

As he went to take another step, the ground suddenly shook violently.

He was thrown off his feet, shaking aggressively.

'Is this an earthquake? What's going on?'

That's when he saw _it_. 

The massive, hulking beast that was the zero pointer. Taller than the four to six storey buildings surrounding it.

'Oh fuck you, Aizawa. Yamada. You bastards couldn't have warned me?'

For a split second, it reminded him of the biggest turret he'd ever seen. The chill that tore it's way down his spine was enough to shock him enough to move. 

He started running in the opposite direction, happy that his boots gave him a bit of a boost. 

He cast his portals ahead of him, one on the road in front of him and one far off towards the end of the road.

As he neared the portal, ready to jump through, he heard a scream.

He halted in his steps.

Uraraka.

He spun around, looking for her among the debris and fleeing students.

He saw Iida, who had also turned at the noise.

He spotted her.

"Oh FUCK."

He threw his portals, and hopped out by the massive pile of debris that Uraraka was buried under.

"Midoriya!"

He struggled with the first massive slab, flinging it off to the right.

"Hey, I'll get you out. Can you move?"

She tensed for a moment, cringing.

"I think I twisted my ankle."

He grimaced internally. It would be hard to get her out by himself. He glanced behind him at the gargantuan robot approaching them.

He saw movement in his peripheral vision.

Iida.

"HEY, IIDA?"

Said boy's eyes snapped to him.

"CAN YOU HELP ME OUT?"

Iida tended in his stance. He glanced at his wrist, presumably at a watch.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? COME ON!"

The boy jerked in his spot, before firing up his engines. In the blink of an eye, he was opposite Midoriya, struggling to lift the next slab.

They heaved it behind them, trying to get a grip on the last slab.

Midoriya cursed at it's weight.

"It's too heavy, Uraraka? What's your quirk?"

She looked at him, curiously.

"Oh my god, I never told you. It's anti-gravity!"

"That's lucky, you think you can get this off?"

Uraraka dry heaved for a second, taking a deep breath.

"I can try!"

She held her breath as she pressed all five fingers to the concrete trapping her.

It lifted off of her, and the two boys gently pulled her out of the rubble.

She let the debris fall back to the ground as they took off in the other direction, the two boys lifting her together.

The zero pointer slammed it's foot right where Uraraka had just been trapped.

"What the hell, that could've crushed you."

Uraraka looked to Midoriya, before glancing back. She paled.

As they pressed further on, the alarm sounding the end of the exam blasted throughout the arena.

They came to a stop, breathing heavily.

"Is anyone injured? I heard quite a few yells during that exam. I don't want any of you going home hurt."

Midoriya watched the old lady walk among the students. She was using a comically large needle as a walking stick.

'That's mildly alarming. I really wish I wasn't terrified of needles, because otherwise I'd probably find that hilarious.'

Iida got her attention, and she tended to Uraraka's twisted ankle. He said his goodbyes, trading numbers and well wishes with the both of them.

* * *

As he made his way out the school gates, he pondered what he'd do if he didn't get in. He had stopped keeping track of his points when he helped the first guy.

"Hey! Midoriya!"

He turned at the call.

Oh!

"Hey Shinsou! How did you find it?"

Shinsou looked...actually, Midoriya wasn't sure. The other boy was hard to read.

"I don't know. I took your advice. Tried to help as many people as I could."

Midoriya was flattered. It's not every day a complete stranger takes advice on a life changing situation.

"Hey, don't look so glum, plenty of heroes got in through Gen Ed if you were worried about your score."

Shinsou nodded.

"Yeah, I applied for that as well. Not missing any opportunity."

Midoriya bumped his shoulder with his fist.

"I have confidence you'll get there."

Shinsou looked at him funny.

"Why?"

Midoriya grinned.

"Let's just say I like you, and I have pretty good intuition."

Shinsou shrugged.

"So...can I text you?"

Shinsou looked like he'd been caught off guard.

"Uh...sure."

They exchanged numbers, and went on their individual ways.

Midoriya was happy with himself.

Three whole people wanted to interact with him! And they were all his age!

Yamada picked him up where he'd dropped him earlier that day, and they chatted about the exam as they went.

Yamada opened the door to their apartment.

"Surprise!"

Midoriya jerked back at the announcement.

He looked over the faces of Aizawa, Midnight and Nedzu.

"Huh?"

Aizawa walked over to him, holding a-

Cake.

_'The cake is a lie.'_

He flinched.

"So your DNA tests came. You're fifteen. We figured you should have a party, even just to make up for lost time."

Midoriya smiled.

'What was that?'

He enjoyed a slice of chocolate cake as his teachers chatted amongst themselves.

What a nice way to end the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm very sorry for disappearing, but thank you so much for reading. Please let me know your thoughts!!!!!


	6. Crazy Train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A necessary conversation or two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall, I just wanted to say thanks again for the continued support on this story, I really means a lot to me. 
> 
> Also thanks for fourteen thousand ajjxajjdjwjw
> 
> Also also, I have decided to make a playlist of songs for this fic, so please check it out!!! All of the songs are for each chapter.
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ldUh9TugWyPfHCbdY7muW?si=G9GslUxwQGaTBnpqfQqkhA

"So, how did the exam go?"

Midoriya looked up from his second slice of cake. It was so delicious. So moist. Pretty much everyone had left at that point, not that there were many in the first place, but Midoriya didn't mind. He wasn't really close with that many people. He wasn't stupid enough to ignore that.

He wiped the crumbs from his mouth as he leaned back on the couch. Chonk made herself comfortable on his lap, purring as he stroked her back.

"It was hard. A lot of morality questions I wasn't expecting. Although, I realise now it was inevitable. Not everyone who has the skills to be a great pro hero would be the best of the best intelligence-wise. Not too bad, I like to think I did well."

Aizawa nodded, thanking Yamada when he was presented with tea. The yellow-blond scooted next to Midoriya on the couch. He perked up.

"I'd like to thank you for being the ONLY student with the decency to respond to my amazing speech. I was _trying_ to get everyone pumped up! Ya know?"

Midoriya chuckled. Aizawa raised an eyebrow in confusion. Midoriya liked to think that he was getting better at reading the man. It was hard, no doubt, but he had a few set reactions. Trained. Ingrained. Maybe it was a bad thing, that Midoriya never mentioned how easy it can be to tell what he's thinking sometimes.

"During our special talk in the auditorium, Mr. Present Mic here thought it would be a good idea to try 'call and answer' on a bunch of anxious teenagers. I, of course, don't have a fibre of common sense, so I was the only one that actually responded."

Aizawa snorted. Yamada glared at him.

"It was AWKWARD, not funny, Shouta. I was a laughing stock! I'm old. It's official. I can't connect with the kids anymore!"

Midoriya smirked at the man's antics.

"Yamada, I'd say it was more about nerves than your performance. Don't worry about it. And if it makes you feel any better, I'm older than you, and I connected with three whole 'kids'."

Aizawa blinked, satisfied about something or other. Yamada wailed.

"You're not OLDER than me! At least...not properly! I'm OLD!"

Midoriya patted his back sympathetically, still trying to hold back giggles.

Aizawa clearly had had enough of the conversation.

"And the practical exam?"

Midoriya's glare took on an icy tone.

"You pricks didn't tell me the zero pointer was taller than a fucking building."

Yamada choked on his laughter. Aizawa was trembling with mirth.

"Sorry, but I had already told you more than I should have at that cafe in Kiyashi Ward."

Midoriya rolled his eyes, smiling.

"I'm kidding it just..."

He thought of the chill that went through him. Reminding him just how _real_ it was. Like the gargantuan turret. Giant red eye-

He shook his head to disperse his thoughts.

'Eyes,' he mentally corrected himself, 'the zero pointer had more than one.'

Oh, crumbs.

"...caught me off guard."

The two men exchanged glances, clearly noticing his pause.

"Well, we can't say much about your results until next week, but I was watching with the other teachers. I have to say, you impressed them. And me."

Midoriya shrunk under the praise, scratching his cheek to try and relieve some of the awkwardness he was feeling.

"Thanks, but I didn't really do much. In fact, I completely lost count of how many bots I wrecked. And helping others wasn't exactly planned either."

Aizawa smiled a little, nodding.

"They were specifically impressed when you and that Iida boy helped the brunette."

Midoriya looked up from Chonk.

"Knowing when to ask for help is a noble trait to have, Midoriya, especially as a pro."

Yamada patted his head. He smiled, before his face turned pensive. The man ran his fingers through Midoriya's hair, retying the small ponytail he'd grown.

"I had a question, actually. I thought your portal hand things could cancel gravity."

Midoriya raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I did say that. But it's on objects, not just in general."

"Right, so...why didn't you use it to get the debris off the girl? Wouldn't it have been faster?"

Midoriya pondered the question for a bit. If he was being honest, he hadn't given it much thought in the moment.

"Well...I don't know. In Aperture, so much of what I did was instinct, I didn't have time to give it more than a second of thought. But even so, I never used it on anything other than Aperture Science branded storage and companion cubes. I...don't really know if there's an upper limit to what I can carry. I guess my instinct was to take the safest option, just in case."

Yamada nodded, eyes wide. Midoriya didn't talk about Apeture much. He knew bottling it up was a bad, bad idea, but the idea of opening up about it would mean reliving all the tests. One after the other. The the 'surgeries'. He shivered at the thought.

As if sensing his sudden discomfort, Yamada clapped his hands, a small, comforting smile on his face.

"Well, it is very late and Aizawa wanted to talk to you, so I'm going to skedaddle. Goodnight!"

Midoriya turned to Aizawa, who was wishing the yellow-blond a good night's sleep.

"Is something wrong?"

Aizawa turned to him again.

"Not really. I was speaking with the detective this morning, and he told me some things you may be interested to know. About you and your family"

Midoriya visibly tensed. He really, _really_ , didn't like talking about his family. Especially to Aizawa and Yamada. They had basically become his new family since he got out of Aperture. Since he escaped that nightmare.

"Hey, it's nothing bad. He found you, your mother and your sisters records, but I'm sorry to say he couldn't find anything on your father...or brother."

Midoriya nodded. He both did and didn't want to know more. A stab of guilt went through him at Aizawa's hesitance. His brother. What's there to say? He had so few memories of his family upon thinking about it, but for some reason his brother is absent from all of them. It painted him to even think it, but he...barely remembered his face.

Aizawa was still talking, so he tried to pick up on where the conversation had gone.

"The DNA tests came back, as I said earlier, and Tsukauchi found your records, including medical files. There was...a lot on it.

Midoriya chuckled to himself. It wasn't even funny, but he just felt so _weird_ about everything. His life was so ridiculous.

"Yeah, I broke a lot of bones as a kid. I guess you could say I didn't know when to quit."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, amused. He reached for a briefcase leaning against his seat, pulling a few files out. He flicked open the one on top and stopped on a photo.

"Is this an x-ray of your leg?"

Midoriya looked up, tilting his head. Aizawa turned the photo around to him, showing off his lower leg in all its former glory.

"Uh...yeah?"

Aizawa examined it for a moment, before turning it to him again.

"You see your pinky toe? You have three toe joints."

Midoriya just looked at him for a moment.

"...yeah?"

Aizawa huffed.

"Kid, these days most of the population only have _one_."

Midoriya blinked.

"Please say you're messing with me."

"I wish I could, kid. In fact, most doctors say you can tell if you have a quirk or not by the number of bones in your pinky toe."

The green haired boy felt his brain shut down. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply through his nose.

"Wow. Just...wow."

Midoriya glanced at the other files on Aizawa's lap. A name immediately caught his eye.

"Aizawa? Can I see the files?"

Aizawa looked at him for a second too long before nodding.

Midoriya's eyes openly displayed his melancholy as he read the name.

Midoriya Takara.

His mother.

He wasted no time looking through his mother's file, until he found-

Death certificate.

He scanned the date, his already low mood dropping even further. Three years later. Three years, to his knowledge, that she spent not knowing where he was.

He sighed, deflating. He ignored Aizawa's sympathetic look.

He opened the next file. Midoriya Chitose.

His sister.

In the back of his mind, his mind took note of Aizawa shifting in his seat, but he was completely focused on the files and certificates in front of him. Birth certificate, medical files, dental records-

Foster home?

"She went into the foster system?"

Aizawa looked mildly surprised that he was speaking. 

"Yes, after your mother passed."

Midoriya blinked.

"And my dad?"

Aizawa looked caught off guard.

"Tsukauchi said he couldn't find any official records of him. The Quirk Wars took it's toll, unfortunately. What about your father?"

"I just...I have no idea where he was for all this. Why didn't he look after Chitose?"

Aizawa's faced pulled into a small frown, but his eyes gave away his sadness.

Midoriya kept looking through the folder. There wasn't much of interest until he got to the end.

Ignoring the death certificate, he pulled out quite the opposite.

"A birth certificate?"

The tired man across from him managed a small, sincere smile.

"You're an uncle, Midoriya. She had children. And her kids had kids and so on and so forth."

'She had kids? Did she get married too? Did she settle down, live her life...never knowing what happened to me?

'Chichan...I miss you. I never stopped missing you. I...I'm sorry. I wish I could've been there. Seen it all happen...seen you again.'

Midoriya turned away from Aizawa, wiping his face.

"One of her great-something-grandchildren actually lives in Musutafu. She is more than happy to meet you, if that's something you would want."

The green haired teen blinked. 

"Wow-I...that's kind of unexpected."

It was a lot. A lot to process, to think about.

"...what's her name?"

"Inko."

He liked that name. 

"I think I want to meet her. Would she be able tomorrow? Or the day after?"

Aizawa looked like he thought it was a bad idea. Midoriya knew he shouldn't get attached to the idea of his great-something-grandniece...but he just had to meet her. 

Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to ignore his past...ok no he definitely shouldn't have, but after he started talking about it, the more he wanted to. The more he wanted to know, wanted to remember...

...the more he wished he could just be back there.

Aizawa standing up out of his seat pulled him back to reality, the faces of people he used to know floating back into the recesses of his mind.

"I can call her tomorrow morning. Hizashi was right, it's late. I think you should get some sleep, you've had a long day."

Midoriya nodded once, gently nudging Chonk off of him.

He walked beside Aizawa as they made their way to their separate bedrooms. Right as Aizawa reached for the doorhandle, Yamada had closed it to give them privacy, Midoriya pulled him into a hug.

Aizawa only pause for a fraction of a second before he wrapped his arms around the all too young boy.

Midoriya took a deep breath, hiding his face against Aizawa's chest. 

When they separated, Aizawa gave his head a few gentle pats and a small grin, teeth and all.

Midoriya closed the door to his room, leaning his head against the door as he let out a wet sigh. Wiping his eyes for what felt like the twentieth time that night, he rounded his bed, saying goodnight to Rhett and changed.

When he was comfortable in bed, facing Rhett, he let himself relax and just be in the moment.

*

There was a haziness in his head he wasn't used to when he woke up. Stuffy. Like his skull was too big for his head. It was uncomfortable, and he wasn't sure if it was all the crying or a sickness that was causing it.

He stumbled into the kitchen, hair all over the place and his pyjamas not much better. He hadn't slept well. Rhett told him he had been tossing and turning all night.

The only thing he could think of was his family. He tried not to focus on them when he had first been rescued, but as time went by and he was getting more comfortable with Aizawa and Yamada, the more they crossed his mind.

He loved his family. He loved his mother and his father. He had always gotten on with his siblings, even if he could barely remember his brother.

It took him longer than it should to recall his name. The thought made him uncontrollably sad. 

'I'm so sorry, Hiroto. You would never let me hear the end of it if you could see me now.'

He ambled into the kitchen, making himself some tea. Aizawa was already there, downing an irrational amount of scalding coffee.

"Why are you trying to make your heart explode?"

Aizawa gave him a look that let him know that the man hadn't slept well either.

"Nedzu asked me to come in this morning. Something about the incoming first years. I'm pretty sure he only asked me because I expelled my class this year."

"How are you allowed to expel a whole class?"

Aizawa shrugged.

"That's just how UA works, plus, just because someone passes the entrance exam doesn't mean they're hero material. If I wasn't tough on them now it's unlikely they'd make it through one year as a pro."

Midoriya paused, mildly horrified.

"That's...a bit intense for seven in the morning."

Aizawa shrugged again, pouring himself yet another mug of the dirty bean water.

Midoriya was concerned for his heart yet again.

"How are you as fit as you are when you consume coffee like a first year university student?"

Aizawa grinned like a madman, eyes wide and showing off all of his teeth.

"Lucky genes, kid."

Midoriya laughed it off, sipping his cooking tea.

"Did you call Inko?"

Aizawa gulped back the last of the coffee, practically gasping for air afterwards.

"Yep, she said you could call over at any time."

The boy's eyebrows shot to his hairline.

"Woah, I'm glad she's so enthusiastic about this."

Aizawa eyed him.

"You're having some doubts?"

"No. Yeah. I don't know."

"Want to talk about it?"

Midoriya pursed his lips.

"I don't...I don't want to inadvertently replace my sister with Inko. I don't know anything about her, but I feel guilty about it. Even if I hadn't ended up there, I never would have known her, so why do I feel like I owe it to Inko to let her know me?"

Aizawa rubbed his neck.

"I wouldn't be the best person to ask about this, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. Oh...but I should tell you. Inko's son recently passed, and I'm not sure how well she is dealing with it. I wouldn't want her to attach herself to you either. It wouldn't be healthy, for either of you."

Midoriya was internally freaking out. He really, desperately wanted to know Inko. Any connection to his family, but he didn't want to hurt her either.

Externally, he nodded.

"I think I'll go over at lunch. Maybe I'll bring a cake."

Aizawa levelled him with an unreadable look.

"Do you want me to be there?"

Midoriya bit his lip.

"...yes, please."

*

The green haired boy stood proudly, holding a just-purchased sponge cake in both hands. Aizawa was standing by his side, in slightly more presentable clothing than usual. They made eye contact, both nodding, before Aizawa pressed the doorbell.

Soon after, they could hear lots of small thuds, before the welcoming door in front of them swung open.

Midoriya immediately took in her appearance. She looked very similar to his family members. Familiar round features, large eyes, and bright green hair. She had the face of his sister. The same straight hair, just lighter in colour. The same green eyes, except this woman looked tired. So, so tired.

Inko was staring at him with equal intent. She looked incredibly sad for a moment, before brightening. She smiled warmly, and Midoriya instantly felt at home.

"Hello there. My name is Akatani Inko, but my maiden name is Midoriya Inko. I...I suppose you are my great uncle of some sort, but I'm aware I'm much older than you."

Midoriya breathed. Even her voice. So, so familiar.

He smiled the biggest, widest grin he could manage without crying.

"Hi, I'm Midoriya Izuku. I suppose I am, but that does sound a bit weird to say. This is Aizawa Shouta, and um, we brought you this cake!"

Her face took on an emotion that was so, shockingly close to what he was experiencing, it left him feeling raw as she beckoned them inside and poured out some freshly brewed tea.

Once they were settled, sipping their tea in serene silence, Aizawa was the one to break the only slightly awkward tension.

"So, Mrs Akatani, I'd like to thank you for reaching out when Tsukauchi found you."

Inko waved her hand, dismissing the thought.

"Oh, not at all. I am always happy to meet with family. I'm an only child, you see, and my husband works in America. I'm afraid I don't have much company lately."

Even though she was smiling while she spoke, Midoriya could feel the sadness coming off her in waves. He thought of her son. His grand nephew of some sort. It made him upset to think about, so he put it out of his head.

"Midoriya?"

He looked up upon being called. She was looking at him openly.

"Yes?"

"If you don't mind me asking, are you're hands alright? I have bandages lying around somewhere if you'd like to change them."

'Huh?'

He looked down at his hands. He'd worn a long sleeved shirt again. His hands were poking out from under the too long sleeve. Bright white. Like a bandage.

'Oh.'

"Oh! It's not-this isn't...um. It's not bandages. These are my hands."

He held up his arms, letting the sleeves pool around his forearms. His prosthetics were fully on display. She looked caught off guard.

"Oh my goodness, I didn't mean to overstep. I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have asked."

Midoriya waved his arms around awkwardly.

"Oh! No, no, don't worry! They, um...are a part of my quirk?"

She paused in her fretting.

He showed her his hands, shifting them into a portal gun and back.

Inko watched with fascination.

"My, that's impressive! But, I thought you didn't have a quirk? At least, that's what that nice detective told me."

"Technically, I don't. But I'm trying to get into UA! So I'm saying that it's my quirk."

Her eyes looked a far away for a moment.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck with that! I'm...I'm sure you can do it, if you put your mind to it!"

He was taken aback by the sincerity of her words. He smiled, thanking her. She looked happy, genuinely happy with herself. He wondered how much those words meant to her.

The conversation, after that, flowed much easier. They talked about anything and everything, with Aizawa chiming in every so often. It was nice. Really nice. He felt so comfortable with Inko, even if he barely knew her for more than a few hours.

When it was time for them to go, she gave him her number herself, making him promise to call her about his exam results.

"Now, regardless of what the results are, you should come over! I can make more tea, or make dinner, whatever you'd like!"

Midoriya smiled wide.

"Thank you, Mrs. Akatani. I appreciate it more than you probably think."

She smiled up at him.

"None of that 'Mrs' stuff, you can call me Inko. You are my uncle, after all!"

He let out a breathy laugh, nodding.

"Well, please call me Izuku!"

They shared a gentle smile. Inko opened her arms to him. He didn't hesitate to lean down to her, wrapping her tightly in his arms.

He sighed into her cardigan. The hug reminded him of his mother _and_ sister. He had to plead with his tear ducts not to ruin her clothes.

Unbeknownst to him, Inko was experiencing a very similar thing. 

They separated, and she walked them to the door. They said their goodbyes, and both went about their day as normal as one could try to.

That night, Midoriya fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

*

He was walking through a corridor. It was long, and dark. No windows or light, other than that pouring out from the door at the end. The hazy feeling in his head got worse and worse as he walked, but he couldn't stop. He tried and tried to fight against the natural movement of his legs, but it was for naught. 

What lay beyond the door was blindingly bright, as he finally reached it. He squinted, pushing it open.

A white, spacious room, with a few black flooring tiles and walls disrupting the perfection. He walked forward, to the centre of the massive enclosed centre. 

The word 'enrichment' popped into his head as he walked further into the room. He ignored it.

He noticed a cube a few paces away from him. He reached out, intending to lift it.

His portal gun was gone. He looked down at his hands. The skin looked wrong, pulled and stretched awkwardly over the bone.

He looked for his gun. 

Nothing.

He heard himself call out before he could think about what he was doing.

"Glados?"

He looked at the cameras in the corner of the room.

"Ah," a robotic voice echoed throughout the chamber, "I'm glad to see you on your own two feet. I was beginning to think I'd have to send a search bot after you. Did you get distracted by your own reflection?"

He felt himself roll his eyes.

"Glados, where is my portal gun? I can't do the test if I don't have it."

Glados didn't respond for a few minutes. It was unsettling. The room felt like it was getting bigger, and Midoriya felt very alone.

"You already have it."

Midoriya startled at Glados' voice. It was way too close to his ear.

Looking around, he couldn't see her anywhere. 

"Glados?"

She hummed.

"Why, just look at your hands."

He felt his hands rise up in front of his face.

The skin still looked all wrong. Unnatural.

His left hand came to a halt above his right, and he let his had close into a fist. Jerking his arm back, the skin came away.

It should have hurt. He should have screamed. There should be blood and pain and _something_.

But there was just _white_.

When Glados spoke again, the voice came from inside his head.

"Let's continue."

*

Midoriya woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He was gripping his night shirt in a vice like grip.

He looked around his room wildly, his eyes halting on Rhett.

"You're here."

He looked around again, seeing all of the small things he'd added to his room over the last few months. A small cat charm on his desk, the books Yamada had bought him, along with a Present Mic poster adorning his walls.

He breathed carefully, in and out.

"Thanks, Rhett."

Rhett beeped, content.

Midoriya lay back down, but he knew he wouldn't get back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading, please let me know what you think!!!!


	7. Houdini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exam results and half the first day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whassup y'all, I'm not completely happy with this chapter but hhhh I'm unable to rewrite it tbh.
> 
> Thanks for 16 thousand!!!!!! Holy fuck?!?!?!?!
> 
> Also the link for the spotify again bbwnxns
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ldUh9TugWyPfHCbdY7muW?si=JzCmSAs1SLSlAbJIVXDayQ

Midoriya was staring at the small metal disk on his desk.

It wasn't exactly what he was expecting to fall out of the envelope. Said envelope had just been handed to him by Aizawa, who looked like he didn't want to accidentally reveal anything with his eyes.

The small, round disk had clinked and fallen with a thud, surprising him.

Why a...disk? Why not just a letter or a phone call, or something.

He spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out how to turn the damned thing on, but when he finally found the tiny button, which was _way_ harder to find than it should have been, it blasted to life.

He sprung back with a start as the projection displayed itself, knocking over his chair.

Rhett beeped from it's spot in the corner.

"Sorry, sorry. Just got a shock."

He pulled his chair back under him and scooted back to the desk. The projection seemed like it was waiting for him to get settled. Freaky.

As soon as he stopped shuffling, the bright, bright figure of All Might in a luminescent yellow suit filled up the...screen? Midoriya wasn't sure what to call it.

"Damn, All Might?"

Midoriya was aware he knew very little about the number one hero. He had studied some other well known heroes he could find, some 'villains' that intrigued him and even this one vigilante. He found it really peculiar that there was so little information available about the 'Symbol of Peace'. He thought it was a bit suspicious.

Obviously the top hero in the country would need a certain level of privacy, but Endeavour seemed to be doing just fine with his privacy. The same with Best Jeanist. All top heroes, but there was literally nothing online, that he could find, that delved into any of All Might's personal life.

"YOUNG MIDORIYA!"

Midoriya startled violently. 

'Oh right,' he thought, 'my results.'

"I AM HERE! As a projection!"

He smiled, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Well done on completing the UA entrance exam! As I'm sure you're aware, UA is very exclusive, so congratulations on getting this far!"

Midoriya was already losing confidence in his performance at the exam. Also did All Might shout everything he says? Or was that just an 'on-camera' thing.

"NOW, onto your results! You passed the written exam with flying colours, I applaud you!"

The green haired boy giggled to himself as All Might was very obviously reading off a cue card. 

"And as for the physical exam, I can confidently say that you earned thirty four points! An admirable amount, but I'm sure you know how competitive the exam is. The cut off this year was at thirty five points. So I'm afraid to say that you..."

Midoriya leaned forward in his seat as All Might paused. He felt himself getting colder.

"HAVE PASSED! Well done, young man! You see, there was a secret, unknown extra aspect to the exam...RESCUE POINTS! How could this esteemed, world renowned hero school deny a hero-hopeful entry for doing heroic deeds? And so, RESCUE POINTS were created! And you, young Midoriya, have earned forty points, taking your total up to a whopping SEVENTY FOUR POINTS!"

Midoriya let out a massive sigh of relief, relaxing back into his seat.

"An excellent score, young man. You've even placed joint second overall! It is my pleasure to welcome you to UA's class 1-A, young Midoriya. This is your hero academia!"

The projection cut out. The boy scrubbed at his eyes. He hadn't cried, but he was damn near close to it.

Knowing that he'd gotten in, that he'd done _well_. It was like a weight off his chest. He allowed a small, content smile to take over his face. All Might had been so nice. He was starting to understand why he was _also_ well known for his interactions with civilians.

(Midoriya may have looked up a few videos after the whole Sludge villain incident. Let's just say he felt like a monster for brushing off the big, loveable man so harshly.)

Distantly, he registered his phone buzz softly in the background.

Right, his new friends!

Were they friends yet? He didn't really know. He hadn't had friends in what felt like millennia.

He unplugged the phone and lay back on his bed, opening the many messages he'd received from Uraraka, Iida, Shinsou and Inko.

As he was typing out a response to her messages, Uraraka called him.

"Hey! How did you get on?"

He sat up, adjusting his pillow.

"I did well. Really well, thanks for asking. Did you get into 1-A too?"

He held the phone away from his ear as she cheered for him. It was a bit embarrassing, receiving so much praise in such a short window. In Aperture, he was mostly belittled. Maybe the odd backhanded compliment, but...anyways.

"Yes! I knew you'd do well, and yeah I got in! Actually, have you heard from Iida yet?"

"Yeah, you called me before I could get to it though."

Midoriya chuckled at her frantic apology.

"Hey, hey it's fine. I was making a joke."

She audibly sighed.

"Mean, I was worried I upset you! But whatever, Iida got in as well! Isn't it great? We'll be classmates!"

"That is great, I can't wait!"

"Me neither! Oh sorry, I have to go. My dad is calling me."

After exchanging goodbyes, Midoriya responded to Iida's curt and proper texts. He liked Iida. He was unique. Very serious and studious, but so kind and open to making new friends.

Their messages were quick but he still felt warm and fuzzy at the prospect of two of his three friends being in his class. 

He opened the one message Shinsou had sent him. It was short, but Midoriya's face lit up.

'Thank you.'

He immediately sent back a smiley face and asking what class he had gotten into before opening the texts he had received from Inko.

She had wished him luck, asked him to visit again and offered to help him with his hero costume. What an amazing woman.

He quickly let her know the good news and agreed to the visit.

He pushed himself off his bed and swung open his door to see Yamada _directly_ outside.

He stumbled back, eyes wide in surprise.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I was about to knock, I swear!"

Midoriya giggled at the blond. He patted his shoulder twice, trying to comfort him.

"It's fine, it just caught me off-guard. Where's Aizawa? I want to tell you my results!"

Yamada's smile waned slightly.

"Sorry, little listener, he had to run out. Patrol. But we both knew your results last week. Well done!"

Midoriya accepted the praise, but he had to push down his spike of disappointment.

"Want hot chocolate? I was about to make some for myself."

Midoriya grinned.

"Always."

**  
Midoriya awkwardly tugged on the bright red tie. He couldn't tie a tie. He'd never needed to before, and he had no idea what the UA uniform comprised of. 

He exhaled, defeated after struggling with the strip of fabric for too long.

The rest of the uniform was nothing particularly amazing, just a standard grey blazer with dark teal trousers and a white button up. It was just the damned tie that was pissing him off. He'd only worn a jumpsuit for around two years of his life, he didn't need to be able to tie a windsor knot.

He grunted, pulling the forsaken tie off his shoulders. Grabbing his bag and pulling on his comfortable red sneakers, he resigned himself to asking Aizawa or Yamada.

It was Yamada that ended up tying it for him. Aizawa had been too busy laughing at him. He had apologised, however, and agreed to drive him to school.

The building was just as big as he remembered. Fucking gargantuan, and that was just the main school building. He made his way through the halls and approached the tall door labelled '1-A'.

He gave himself a quick few words of encouragement, and flung the door open.

"KEEP YOUR FEET OFF THE DESKS!"

"MAKE ME YOU FUCKIN' EXTRA!"

'Oh boy.' Midoriya was already exhausted.

Iida was in a comical 'shout-off' with-

Bakugou? Huh.

Midoriya idly took note of how different the blond was acting, compared to the last time he saw him. A lot louder, for starters.

"You are disrespecting the students who used these desks before us! Where are your manners!?"

"Hah? Were you born with that stick up your ass, Four Eyes?"

Iida recoiled, offended.

"Four eyes? Excuse me, I believe we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Iida Tenya, I used to attend Somei Private Acad-"

Bakugou tilted his head, challenging him.

"Somei? What, you think you're so much better than me, you elite fucker."

"Pardon? I'll have you know-"

Ok, Midoriya couldn't watch it any longer. Neither of the boys had noticed him yet, and no one else in the room seemed to be bothered to do anything about the yelling.

"Iida! Good morning!"

The two turned to the green haired boy's distraction. Iida perked up at his presence, while Bakugou...

He kind of shrunk into himself a bit.

Iida quickly approached him, shaking his hands mechanically.

"Welcome Midoriya! I'm glad to see you early and prepared to learn! I must say, you teased out the true meaning of the exam."

Midoriya raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"You figured out that the exam was to prove yourself as a competent hero, in both combat and rescue. Thank you!"

The taller boy bowed stiffly at the waist.

"Woah, woah, don't worry about it! And I don't think I did as much as you think I did. We had only spoken once before, but when I called you to help me with Uraraka, you didn't have to help. You very easily could have turned in to other direction and fought more robots. But you decided to help. It was admirable of you."

Iida flustered at the praise.

"Hell yeah!"

The two boys spun around to see Uraraka at the door.

"Hey! Good morning!"

She high fived Midoriya as she walked in and coming to a stop beside Iida, throwing him a smile.

They made idle chatter as they reaquainted themselves.

"...excuse me."

Midoriya's head turned so fast both Iida and Uraraka cringed. Ouch, muscle strain.

"Shinsou!!!"

Midoriya had his arms thrown up over his head, a massive smile on his face.

Shinsou looked a bit awkward.

"Hey...thanks again for, uh, the entrance exam."

Midoriya grabbed his arm, pulling him further into the room to introduce him to Uraraka and Iida.

"If you're just here to socialise, you can get out."

Midoriya held back a laugh at Aizawa in all his glory, wrapped like a burrito in his sleeping bag. He bit down on his lip as Uraraka and a pink girl shrieked.

"It took you eight seconds to quiet down. Absolutely unacceptable. Everyone to your seats."

Midoriya sat down at number eighteen, ignoring the fact that he was sitting behind Bakugou.

"My name is Aizawa Shouta. I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next year. I don't tolerate laziness, so if you think this will be 'easy breezy', you might as well quit now. Any takers?"

He paused, waiting. Midoriya could already tell that most of the class feared the tired man. They weren't wrong to fear him, but not the amount they probably did.

"Good. Everyone take one of these and get changed."

Aizawa zipped open his sleeping bag, somehow producing twenty tracksuits.

"Where are we going sensei?"

He knew he was the only one who would be calm enough to ask. Or not get killed by the glare Aizawa threw at him. He knew he was only doing it to assert himself as a 'no nonsense' teacher.

"The track fields. We're doing an apprehension test."

Uraraka was the only other person to raise their hand.

"What about orientation?"

Aizawa smiled, showing off _all_ his teeth. It was pretty creepy. 

"UA allows staff more freedom than other schools when it comes to the curriculum. In other words, I do what I want."

Midoriya actually snickered at that. Shinsou looked at him weirdly, and Midoriya quickly pretended to be coughing.

"What are you waiting for, get to it."

Grabbing his own tracksuit, he made his way to the changing rooms, chatting with Iida, Uraraka and a more reluctant Shinsou.

Midoriya didn't know what was up with him. He seemed like he wanted to make friends, and talk and have fun, but he kept stopping himself every time he had the opportunity to chime in with his thoughts.

Midoriya tried prompting him as much as possible, but Shinsou was stubborn. It seemed he'd have to work extra hard to get him to loosen up a bit.

**  
'Fuck, fuck, fuck.'

Midoriya was panicking a little. A bit. Ok, a lot. Somehow, it hadn't crossed his mind that he would be changing _in front of everyone else_. He wouldn't have any issue with it really, aside from his arms. And legs. And shoulders. And the disk in his chest. Ok so there was a lot, and that's not even counting all the scars.

He shuddered as little as possible. The other boys were chatting amongst themselves, or outright ignoring everyone else (ie Bakugou).

He slowly, slowly reached for the tracksuit pants. His legs could probably escape notice, especially considering how many of his classmates were fascinated with Iida's legs. He silently begged that no one would ask him about his stark white, definitely not fleshy legs. 

Miraculously, people seemed preoccupied with a spikey red head, who was showing off his buff arms. The red head felt familiar, but Midoriya couldn't place him, so he returned to his task.

He pulled off his tie, he was going to have some fun trying to put that back on, and his blazer, folding them neatly on the bench.

His cybernetic fingers reached for his shirt buttons. He stayed facing the the wall as he slowly, slowly starting undoing each. One after the other.

He kept focusing on his breathing as he fumbled with the last button. In, out, in, out. He tugged the shirt off his shoulders and reached for his tracksuit shirt.

The zipper on the front of the tracksuit got stuck.

'Fuck, fuck no, no, no, no way.'

He hunched over on himself, tugging at the apparently invincible zipper. The fucking thing wouldn't budge. Shinsou, on his left picked up on his distress, but Midoriya waved him off with a plastered on smile.

Shinsou squinted suspiciously. His eyes briefly shifted to his arms, before he turned back to his own bag.

Midoriya let out a breathy sigh of relief.

"...woah."

He flinched, hoping whoever said it was talking to someone else.

He held his shirt in front of his chest, trying to hide the disk. Half of the boys were looking at his back when he turned around.

"Uh..."

The spikey red head smiled at him. It didn't do much to alleviate the tension he was suddenly feeling. He took note of some of the people staring at him. A yellow blond with a black strip in his hair, a guy with a crow's head, a guy with half red, half white hair, Bakugou.

The red head spoke up when the silence dragged on.

"Hey, I'm Kirishima! Sorry, I just- dude! You're so buff! What's your secret?"

"Huh?"

He blinked a few times. Kirishima smiled, all fangs.

"Wait, I know you, from the entrance exam, right?"

Kirishima looked caught off guard. One of his hands rubbed at the back of his neck. He was running his fingers through his now red hair.

"Yeah! I'm flattered you remember me!"

"Hey! I'm Kaminari, dude, you must get so many girls fawning over you with those pecks!"

Kirishima snorted.

"Uh...not really?"

Kaminari raised an eyebrow, hands on his hips.

"Hm, sounds fake, but okay. You heard it here first folks, muscles aren't everything!"

Midoriya chuckled at the yellow-blonds antics. He glanced around at his classmates, who were all watching Kaminari chase Kirishima around with his shirt. All except for-

Fuck. Eye contact.

Of course, just his luck he made eye contact with the half and half boy. He was...pretty intensely looking at him. More specifically, at his chest.

Midoriya knew he had a lot of scars. That was no secret. He wasn't particularly fond of other people seeing them, not that many had. At least with Kirishima and Kaminari, they had been suttle as they got an eye full. This guy though...it was making him uncomfortable. He felt like he was being looked at under a microscope.

He turned around again, trying once more to pull the zipper open. Still no luck. He let out a little grunt of frustration.

"Pardon me."

The monotone voice shocked him out of his thoughts. He looked up, coming face to face with the half and half boy.

'Fuck.'

The other boy silently held out his shirt.

"Huh?"

The boy looked away.

"You clearly don't want people seeing them. I can understand that."

It took until then for Midoriya to realise that the boy had a massive scar over his left eye. A piercing blue eye looked back at him.

He looked back at the shirt.

"What about you?"

"I'll request another from Aizawa-sensei."

Midoriya wanted to tear up at the act of kindness.

"You're sure?"

The boy looked confused at his hesitation.

"Yes."

"I...I don't-thank you, that was really kind of you."

The boy's eyes widened. He looked away again. 

Midoriya pulled the shirt on, zipping it on over the disk on his chest.

**  
As that of the students gathered in the wide field, Midoriya wished he wore a long sleeved shirt under his uniform. His arms were very clearly on display. In his peripherals, he could see a few people looking at him.

Aizawa looked very, very bored, but held eye contact with him for a few seconds, gauging how he was feeling.

Midoriya subtly nodded. Aizawa blinked slowly, and went back to glaring at the class.

"Attention, now."

His deadpan voice cut through the excited chatter of the students. 

"I will be conducting a test of your skills, from fitness to ability with your quirk. Depending on how you place, you'll be ranked."

Midoriya raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, and who ever places last? They will be deemed unfit for the hero course and will be expelled on the spot. Welcome to UA."

A few students cried out in shock, anger, fear. Midoriya narrowed his eyes. Aizawa...wasn't joking. Midoriya liked to think he'd gotten pretty good at reading the man, and none of his tells were on show. He was serious.

He was planning on expelling a student by the end of the day.

What the fuck?

"Bakugou."

The blond looked to Aizawa.

"What was your ball throw high score in middle school."

"Sixty three metres."

Midoriya wondered how the fuck he knew that off the top of his head.

Aizawa threw him a baseball. Or at least, it looked like a baseball.

"I know you were told not to use your quirks in PE in middle school, but throw that out the window. For this, Bakugou, do whatever you want, just don't leave the circle."

He gestured to a circle painted on the dirt. The blond strolled over at a leisurely pace, and Midoriya could tell Aizawa was losing patience.

Bakugou tossed the ball up once, twice. He winded his arm back, and flung the ball forward.

_Boom_.

" _DIE!_ "

'Die?'

The ball was flung forward in a massive explosion.

'Wow, fitting quirk for a fitting personality I guess.'

Aizawa held up his phone. 

"Over SEVEN HUNDRED?"

Kaminari was staring in the direction the ball went.

"This is the level expected of hero students. Let's begin the tests."

The tests themselves weren't too bad. Midoriya was pretty damn fit on his own, without needing the help of the portals. During the grip test, he got second after Shouji, at a whopping 324.5kgs. He hadn't realised his hands were as strong as they were.

After coming third in the endurance run, it was onto the ball throw. He had been dreading it, to be honest. There were little to no places he could put portals, so he'd have to rely on strength alone. He wasn't sure if he'd done enough to make the final cut just yet.

Uraraka stepped up to the circle, not hesitating to throw the ball. It flew, and flew and flew.

It took Midoriya a solid few seconds to remember what her quirk was.

Aizawa's reader app called out infinity, and Uraraka blushed under the immediate praise.

"Shinsou, you're up next."

Midoriya had been wondering how Shinsou had been getting on. They hadn't been able to speak much since starting the test.

Shinsou stepped up to the circle. He looked nervous.

"Uraraka?"

Huh? The green haired boy watched curiously as Shinsou got her attention.

"Oh, yeah?"

Her eyes glazed over. 

"Throw the ball with your quirk."

She ambled over to him, taking the ball from his hands. She winded up her arm with far less gusto this time. It flew out of view.

Aizawa showed the infinity sign again, smirking.

Shinsou visibly relaxed, coming to stand beside Midoriya again. Midoriya smiled at him.

Shinsou blinked, clearly expecting... something. He looked at the rest of the class. No one payed him any mind.

Midoriya knew he thought no one was looking, because a small smile took over his face.

"Lastly, Midoriya."

'Oh god.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think!!!


	8. Washing Machine Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quirk Apprehension part 2 plus a new friend or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whassup dudes. Christmas tests finally over and done with so I will hopefully have more time to write hehe
> 
> THANKS FOR 19000 EJDJWNXNWNNDWNJFKE YALL,,,,,,,,WOW
> 
> Also idk if y'all want to interact with me outside ao3 but lmao if ye want to I have an instagram account set up for this my @ is whysomanyyikes. I would use a tumblr but I only have my main and idk how to add an account so I might do that but there's a good chance I'll forget lmao
> 
> The playlist once again hehe
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ldUh9TugWyPfHCbdY7muW?si=NqcWyIagT4myCkIvOSlzgQ

Midoriya slowly walked up to the circle drawn into the sand, eyes darting around as he looked for anything he could use to his advantage. He hadn't done badly, by any means, but he didn't want to barely scrape by either. The portals were incredibly versatile, and if people wrote him off on the first day because he didn't have a proper opportunity to use them, he'd be pissed with himself and Aizawa.

He wasn't even sure why he cared so much. Surely it didn't make a difference what other people thought of him, right? But the second he was in the changing room, it's all he could think about. How his classmates saw him. To be fair to them, no one said anything rude or invasive really. The boy with the split coloured hair, Aizawa had called Todoroki, seemed to be the only one who could tell he was uncomfortable.

Was he overthinking it? Maybe, but he found it...strange how much of an emphasis on quirks there was literally everywhere he went. From when he got out of Aperture to that moment, everything seemed to surround quirks. 

He wondered how they could ever understand how life used to be for him.

He stepped into the circle. Aizawa's eyes were burning with curiosity, and Midoriya took a deep breath. He adjusted his grip on the baseball, looking at the small screen. It displayed the number zero. 

Midoriya glanced around once more, trying to decide on _some_ way to impress both Aizawa and his classmates.

Boom.

His eyes were drawn to the moon, barely visible in the bright blue sky.

He smirked to himself as he turned around, facing the school building. He could hear the murmurs of the others as he prepared himself. 

This was either going to work really, really well, or go horribly wrong.

He idly wondered what Glados would say if she could see what he was about to do.

He turned, briefly, to face his classmates.

"You may want to hold on to something sturdy."

Their confusion was comical, to say the least. Aizawa looked concerned at best.

Taking a deep breath, he aimed the portal gun at the wall in front of him. In the blink of an eye, he shot his blue portal at the wall before flinging the ball, and throwing up his other portal at the moon's surface.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as he waited for the tell tale sparkle of the portal as it landed.

All of a sudden, the portals snapped open, and Midoriya braced himself against the powerful vacuum of space. 

He watched as the ball went through, literal milliseconds away from slamming into concrete.

Grey.

Something grey caught his eye. 

"What the hell?"

He knew it was a stupid idea. He knew Aizawa would probably kill him for it later, that is, if it didn't kill him right then and there.

He leapt at the portal, slamming his legs into the wall right at the edge.

There, a spherical object. Grey.

And an Aperture Science logo proudly emblazoned on the side.

He leaned into the portal, reaching for whatever it was. He exhaled all the air from his lungs and just, _just_ got a grip on the handle-

When something started pulling him back to earth.

The second he passed through, he shut the portals.

What had felt like hours, had actually only been mere seconds.

His classmates were staring at him as if his head had fallen off.

Shinsou looked openly concerned, which warned Midoriya's heart.

Aizawa, though.

He looked _furious_.

He stormed over to him, yanking him to his feet.

"What the _fuck_ were you thinking?!"

Midoriya blinked. Aizawa was squeezing his shoulders with an iron grip. It would probably have hurt if Midoriya could feel any pain in them.

"What?"

Aizawa's eye twitched as his face twisted.

"What do you mean, 'what'? I ask you to throw a ball and you rip open a fucking portal to _space_!"

"You said to show off our abilities! I was doing what I had to-"

"What you had to? I just had to pull you back from _outer space!_ And for what? A grey ball?"

Midoriya clenched his fists, holding said 'grey ball' tightly against his side.

"If you _must_ know, it has an Aperture symbol on it, which I would've told you if you hadn't just freaked out on me."

Aizawa somehow managed to look angrier.

"Freaked out? _Freaked out?!_ I blinked and you were _leaping_ off of the fucking planet!"

The green haired boy glanced at his classmates, all of whom were trying not to look too interested in Aizawa's rage.

"Aizawa. You don't _understand_. Do you think I don't know what I'm doing? Of _course_ Glados taught me about space. I know that humans can survive for a good two minutes, if they know what they're doing, and even more considering air was being sucked in around me. Why won't you just hear me out?!"

Aizawa sneered. It made Midoriya feel small. He hated that feeling. 

"I was asked to take care of you. How could I have possibly explained that you died because you _willingly_ ejected yourself into space?"

Midoriya glared at him from under his bangs.

"I just told you I knew what I was doing. Do you not trust me to take care of myself? If you bothered to let me talk about Aperture at all I probably would have mentioned it."

Aizawa shrunk slightly. Midoriya persisted.

"Don't think I haven't noticed. When I try to talk about my cybernetics, you change the subject, you didn't trust me with Rhett after I told you it's original purpose and we never train with my portals. I don't have a clue about the upper limits of the guns. Before the entrance exam, I hadn't used them in _months_. If you're uncomfortable with me, I want you to tell me."

Aizawa rubbed his temples. Midoriya stood his ground.

"I am not uncomfortable with you, Midoriya. Am I a bad person for not wanting to hear about the atrocities you went through for two full years?"

"Well it's better than pretending they never happened!"

Aizawa looked over at the class.

"And what are you doing with _that_."

Midoriya looked at the sphere.

"It might be damaged. I'd like to take a look at it."

Aizawa wouldn't look at him.

"Take it to the Support labs, you're free to leave after that."

Aizawa walked back to the class. Shinsou still looked concerned. A few other students seemed interested in his display.

Without another word, Midoriya turned and headed for the labs. He didn't bother sticking around for his results. He knew he did enough to pass, and he didn't care if Aizawa put him dead last out of spite. Nedzu liked him too much to allow Aizawa to expel him.

'Woah, woah, calm down. He wouldn't do anything that rash. He cares, just take a breath.'

He sighed, rubbing his face.

**

_Boom_

  
The giant, metal doors to the labs flew off their hinges as Midoriya reached them. He narrowly missed being impaled by the shrapnel.

"What the hell, is everyone okay?"

He fanned the smoke from his face as he slowly entered.

"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here? WOAH, what's that you have there?"

A girl with pink dreadlocks and yellow eyes was bouncing excitedly in front of him. She was absolutely covered in ash, presumably from whatever caused the explosion.

"Hi...I'm Midoriya. I'm in the hero course, and, uh, I was looking for Powerloader?"

The girl started aggressively patting the ash.

"Nice to meet you, Greenie, I'm Hatsume! Powerloader stepped out for a few minutes. I'm going to be the most successful engineer of hero support tech ever. Come here, I need to show you some of my babies!"

She grabbed Midoriya by the wrist opposite to the sphere and dragged him, quite forcefully, to the work station.

"Babies?"

Hatsume stopped for a second before laughing at him.

"Sorry! Not actual babies, that's just what I call my creations! They are super cool and efficient, plus I-"

She stopped. Midoriya was terrified of what she was about to do. She was looking at the ball.

"I asked when you arrived and you never answered me, what IS that?"

Midoriya held the...thing between them. The Aperture logo was clear for all to see.

"Oh, uh...that's kind if why I came. I grabbed this during one of Aizawa's training things. I'm trying to figure out what it is."

She examined it curiously. Her eyes landed on the logo. She rubbed her chin, which only spread more soot over her face.

"Huh. Aperture Science. Not every day you see that company anymore."

Midoriya jerked back.

"Wait, you know about Aperture?"

Hatsume tilted her head at him.

"Well, yeah. I'm studying to become a tech expert. Of course I know about Aperture Science. It was one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world until it went bankrupt. All of their development centres closed except one, but after the Quirk Wars, it's location was lost. I never thought I'd see some of their technology in person."

Midoriya was having trouble believing what he was hearing. She knew about the company? Glados always made it seem as though Aperture was extremely secretive. For a while, he thought it was an illegal government research facility. The illegal part was right, but it was no government approved company.

"You think you can get it working?"

Her eyes seemed to glow with anticipation.

"Can I? I can _definitely_! Let me get my tools!"

She started dashing around her workspace, grabbing all kinds of utensils and blueprints and even a hamster ball. No hamster in sight, just the ball.

She laid out all her stuff next to the sphere. Plucking some sort of screwdriver from the pile, she slowly leaned towards it, aiming for the two grey flaps on the front.

Flaps that flew open right as she tried to touch them.

"Woah, woah, woah! That's a bit rude, isn't it? Trying to poke someone's screws while they aren't operating. Fierce rude. Where am I?"

Hatsume seemed to get even _more_ excited the second it started speaking in a strong English accent. The flaps had opened to reveal a bright blue eye that was rapidly looking between the two of them.

Midoriya cleared his throat.

"You, uh, you're in Japan?"

The...ball, got a bit fidgety.

"Wow, Japan! How on earth did I end up here? Last I remember, I was floating around in space! Crazy, crazy altogether."

Hatsume looked at Midoriya.

"You speak English?"

Said boy shrunk a little under her gaze.

"Uh, yeah. I learned a bit a few years back. My dad was fluent."

"So anyways, who are ye? Are ye holding me hostage? I can guarantee none of my coworkers will pay the ransom."

Midoriya tried not to flinch at the mention of it's 'coworkers'.

"We are students, and no, we are not holding you hostage. That logo, are you from the Aperture Science facility in Michigan?"

It turned to him, as much as it could, really.

"Well, yea. I don't know if there are many others to be quite honest. I'd like to know how you know about it. I'm pretty sure dead scientists can't reveal sensitive information."

Midoriya closed his mouth.

"Regardless, I'd quite like to go back now, if you don't mind. No jetlag for me, thankfully. Yeah."

Midoriya debated what to say. He didn't know how much English Hatsume knew, and he didn't want to risk outing himself just yet.

"It's gone. It blew up, the story was all over the news."

" _Oh,_ I was not expecting that! I wonder how that happened. Very curious, indeed. I never got a good enough sense of the place when I was in control. I'm embarrassed to say, really, but eh, I wasn't very good at _her_ job. I don't know how she managed it all, actually."

"...her? Do you mean Glados?"

It flinched.

"Yea, she was quite possibly the scariest thing I've ever witnessed. Of course, I was daringly brave and held my own. Yep, I fought her off like a knight...until she took over again. And hold on, how do you know about Glados, fleshy?"

"You were in control of the facility? Who and what are you?"

"I'm Wheatley! And I don't appreciate the tone of voice, although I suppose it's nice hearing people other than Glados talk. And I was a personality core, until the facility bombed I guess."

"Personality core?"

"Yea, impressive isn't it? I'm an AI specifically designed to house a personality. The white coats made me to slow her down, but apparently I wasn't great at that, considering they were all breathing a deadly neurotoxin a few hours later."

'Personality core? Glados never told me there were cores. What...there's more to this. I know that."

He glanced at Hatsume, who was aggressively writing notes in a small journal. She was grinning like a lunatic, but Midoriya didn't care as long as she wasn't paying too much attention to what he was saying.

"So...Wheatley. How did you get control of Aperture?"

"Oh it's a long and funny story, actually. You'll probably laugh. Maybe. I don't know. I was woken up because all of the incubating test subjects were dead, because the power was gone. There was one mute that survived though! Yea, I tried to help her out, because Glados had been shut down and the place was in disrepair, but she turned Glados back on somehow."

Midoriya found it hard to follow. 

"So anyway, Glados had her back in the testing chambers and I hatched a brilliant plan to escape. We reached Glados' layer and we switched cores! Isn't that crazy? Absolutely mad. So I was plugged into her connection point; gained complete power over the facility, I did. It was kind of mad. I may have gotten a bit in over my head, but regardless, even putting Glados in a potato was no match for the two of them. Blasted me right onto the moon, they did."

Midoriya swallowed heavily.

"The other girl. Was she Chell?"

"Yea! That's the one. Brave lady, a bit confusing at times. I really have to ask how you've heard about it."

He hesitated. Glancing over at Hatsume, only to see her busily tinkering with something or other, he made his decision.

"I know about it because I was there."

He held out a hand, watching it shift into a portal gun.

"Wow, she certainly doesn't waste any time. New data, new creations, that's all she was interested in. So you were there? Isn't it weird we never met? How crazy is that? I was told all the test subjects died of serious brain damage. Typical. And here you are, alive and breathing presumably."

Midoriya chuckled.

"Yes, I'm breathing, Wheatley."

"Well, that's definitely good to know, thanks-thank you, for clarifying that. Yea."

"So. Do you have any preference as to where you go?"

"Where I go? That sounds a bit serial killer-y, doesn't it, haha! But no, I'm not very busy at the moment as it happens."

Midoriya raised an eyebrow.

"Cool, I guess you're coming home with me."

He picked Wheatley up by the handles. Switching back to Japanese, he got Hatsume's attention.

"Hey, thanks for your help, Hatsume. I'm going to head out, but good luck with the 'babies'!" 

She flashed him a toothy grin.

"Thanks! And good luck yourself, Mister Hero, you should come back and let me have a look at your quirk. I might be able to make you something cool!"

Midoriya nodded, leaving through the still-smoking doors.

He met Yamada, who was still dressed up in his hero costume, on his way out of the school gates.

"What's up, little listener! Aizawa has some work he needs to do, so I'm bringing you home today! Oh, that looks cool, where did you get that?"

Midoriya smiled, letting the older man pat his head. Wheatley stayed silent.

"During the quirk apprehension test. I'll explain later?"

The car ride was relatively short, but Midoriya was preoccupied thinking about his argument with Aizawa.

He felt bad. Guilty. He knew he should've at least warned Aizawa of what he was going to do. Leaving Wheatley in space wasn't an option for him. The man was probably still fuming. 

He sighed, rubbing his head.

"Yamada, can I ask you something?"

The man didn't look away from the road, but he smiled.

"Ask away, kid."

"Thanks. Th-this is kind of hard for me to ask...but is Aizawa...uncomfortable, with me?"

The yellow-blond glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.

"Hey, of course you don't make him uncomfortable. He...ok, I'll be honest. He's had some bad experiences in the past. He... _we_ lost a friend of ours when we were teenagers. He blames himself. If he said something to you, I'm sure he didn't mean it. He gets attached to people and doesn't want to see them being harmed. I'm sure he's just concerned, but I can talk to him if you want?"

Midoriya sighed again. He felt even worse.

"No...don't bother. It was my own fault. I was out of line. I guess it bothers me more than it should that he never let's me just _talk_ about Aperture. It's like he wants to ignore it ever happened."

Yamada tightened his grip on the wheel.

"I doubt it was all on you, like I said, he can over-exaggerate situations in his head sometimes. I think he might just not want to think about you in a painful situation. I don't like thinking about it either, but I know you should be able to talk about it if you want to. I doubt he means to hurt you by ignoring it. To be honest, I've noticed it too, but I wasn't really sure what to say. Shouta is stubborn, but I'll talk to him."

"Thanks, Yamada."

"Please, my mother is Yamada. You can call me Hizashi."

Midoriya lit up.

"Really?"

"Go for it!"

"Okay, Hizashi. If you want, you can call me Izuku."

Hizashi smiled, showing off his pearly-whites.

"I'll take you up on that, Izuku!"

**

"Nice place you've got here! Not too shabby. Comfortable, modern. Architecturally sound. Overall, a good home, really."

"Thanks, Wheatley. This is Yamada Hizashi. He's one of the people taking care of me. He's fluent in English."

The yellow-blond smiled at the blue eyed core.

"Nice to meet you! I assumed everything Aperture was long gone, aside from my little buddy here."

"Yea, I mean, I would too, to be honest. No fault there. You have very striking hair. Sorry. No, that was a compliment. But sorry. Y'know, if that offended you. If not, a compliment, if yes, sorry."

Hizashi snorted.

"You're well-able to talk. I like you!"

Midoriya set Wheatley down on the coffee table. Chonk sniffed him curiously. She settled next to him, blinking slowly.

"Oh wow! That's a creature! Hello! Uh...greetings? Salutations. I assume it isn't a conversational species?"

Midoriya picked up Chonk, resting her over his shoulders. She purred against his head as he stroked her back.

"Yeah, she's a friendly cat, but unfortunately, cats can't speak. Sorry to disappoint."

Wheatley shook as much as possible on the table.

"Oh no! No disappointment here. It doesn't look like it would be able for particularly riveting conversations. Sorry, that was kind of an insult. I think. I don't know. It looks fluffy, at least. That's, you know, that's definitely an upside. A plus. Being fluffy sounds quite nice."

Midoriya rested Chonk on her scratching tower, letting her get settled before turning back to Wheatley.

"Oh! Do you want to meet Rhett?"

"Rhett? Is that another one of you fleshies? Or, another creature. Like the 'cat' you showed me just now."

"No, it's a turret! It's one of the only other things that survived the explosion."

"A turret? I'd rather not die, actually. Thank you."

Midoriya snickered.

"Come on, Rhett is different. It hasn't shot me once yet."

" _Yet?_ "

Hizashi stifled his laughter behind his fist.

Opening the door to his room, he watched as Rhett flickered to life.

"Hel-lo."

"Hey Rhett! This is Wheatley, he also came from Aperture."

"Hey! Buddy, chum, pal. Um, I'd rather not be shot, thanks! I, yea, if you could just not, that would be great."

"I won't."

"Thank you, that, that really means a lot, so thank you, for that. Yea."

"You hurt her."

"What's that now?"

Midoriya watched with interest as the two robots interacted.

"She hurt you. You took over."

Wheatley looked around a bit awkwardly.

"I, well. Yea, I did."

"You regret it."

Wheatley 'blinked'. Blinking, in his case, was more of the grey flaps moving over his glowing eye and less of an actual blink.

"I do, yea. I wasn't really myself though, you know? Glados' body, you try to resist testing. She's practically wired to live off it. To this day, I have no idea how she managed to go about day by day without going mad."

"I trust you."

Rhett's high pitched and robotic voice rung through Midoriya's room. It gave Wheatley pause.

"That's a very lovely thing to say. Thank you."

Midoriya grinned and walked further into the room. He set Wheatley down on his desk.

"Yeah, you are way too big for me to carry you around all the time."

A thought struck him.

"I wonder if Hatsume will be busy tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, please let me know your thoughts, I appreciate every single comment.


	9. Breezeblocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some necessary filler and some needed conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey dudes, how we feeling? The holidays were kinda busy for me so I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner, but it's here! I'll be getting into more of the action in the next chapter, so you can look forward to that.
> 
> Happy late new year lmao
> 
> Link to the playlist once again:  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ldUh9TugWyPfHCbdY7muW?si=NJy3cQpxRWiYSn_ZrryMrw

Aizawa didn't end up getting back until well into the night. He hung up his coat and started unraveling his capture weapon when he heard laughter coming from the room at the end of the hall. Midoriya's room.

He quietly slid up to the door, not wanting to alert whoever was laughing to his presence.

Hizashi had texted him not too long before he left UA. The message was...long, to say the least. It seemed as though Midoriya was quite torn up about how he had behaved, according to the blond.

He felt...bad, about how he spoke to the boy, but he knew that leaping into the vacuum of space was irrational and stupid. Even for Midoriya.

He felt guiltier and guiltier the more he thought about their argument. He was aware, somewhere in the recesses of his mind, that he had a tendency of changing the subject when it came to Aperture, but there was more than one reason for that. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Midoriya reliving the apparent torture he lived through. Upon thinking about it, he realised he knew next to nothing about Aperture aside from the turret and the tech that was forced onto the young boy.

Surely the company wasn't all bad. Surely, there was more to the story. He just hadn't been willing to hear it. Aizawa mentally kicked himself for disregarding the boy's feelings.

Another reason? The amount of heroes that died during the raid. He would never tell Midoriya the actual number of hero casualties, simply because he knew the boy would blame himself for each and every one of them. The death toll had hit nearly fifty fully fledged professionals, not to mention the thousands of people in the facility that the young pro had sensed. 

To that day, he didn't know what happened to those trapped souls. Had they survived? There was no way to tell. The facility had bombed seconds after himself and Midoriya had gotten out. When he left for Japan, the place was still smoldering. He hadn't received any updates of any kind, so one could only assume the worst.

The other main reason? Aizawa was in the facility for mere seconds, and the whole experience still haunted him. Aperture Science, he later found out was the name, was completely unknown. There were no government records of the facility. The only information that could be found of it were old newspaper clippings and the odd few patents, and most recently, the story of the explosion going off in the middle of nowhere in Michigan.

That giant robot that had been behind Midoriya, suspended from the ceiling...terrified him. It had spoke with a booming, robotic female voice and Midoriya had called it Glados. It...she, was intimidating to a fault. She tried to kill both himself and Midoriya with a neurotoxin. The facility itself tried to kill them by self destructing.

Everything about it was so distinctly _wrong_. 

And yet...

He turned his head toward the door once more.

"Wheatley, how the hell did you manage to piss Glados off that fast?"

Wheatley? 

Midoriya was laughing. He briefly noted that it was the first time he'd heard the boy laugh in a while.

"You see, ok, so I was under the rather genius impression that _she_ wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying, if I said it in a funky accent. And clearly, I mean, it didn't work. Like at all. Immediately saw through me, she did. Chell and I made a mad dash for it, haha!"

Aizawa heard Hizashi laugh along with them. He sighed.

"Izuku! Why don't you have any funny stories like that?"

Izuku? Since when were the two of them on a first name basis?

"Oh shut it, Glados was so pissed after Chell got out that she didn't even tell me what personality cores were. You think she and I exchanged gossip over tea? I'm insulted, Hizashi."

Aizawa listened silently as they burst into giggles.

Deciding to make his presence known, he shuffled in front of the door and knocking twice.

The laughter stuttered to a halt. He pushed the twinge of hurt down.

"Uh, come in!"

He took a breath as he pushed the door ajar.

"Hey, I just got back...I figured I'd make myself known."

The kid was looking at him. If he was still angry with him, it didn't show on his face.

His eyes flickered from Midoriya to Hizashi and finally landed on the ball Midoriya had pulled from a portal.

"Wow, you've got a fine head of hair, haven't you!"

...which was speaking. Ok.

"Thanks?"

The blue eye of the new robot shifted between the two on the bed and himself.

Midoriya himself had turned away, lying back across Hizashi's legs

Rhett's single red eye pierced through him.

"So uh...Midoriya, I was wondering if I could speak to you about earlier?"

Said boy turned to him once more, seemingly examining him for something. He blinked twice and nodded.

"Go ahead."

Aizawa took a breath.

"I'm sorry. I reacted poorly because I was scared. I still don't think you should have leapt out like that, but I suppose, considering the circumstances...anyway, I am sorry. And I will apologise to the class tomorrow. They were very curious about you after you'd left."

Midoriya looked up at that.

"Look, I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't care. I'm worried for you, but I know that doesn't make it okay. I'll try to be better."

Midoriya quirked a small, vulnerable smile. He sat up from his spot across the blond man's legs.

"I'm sorry too. I can't imagine how it must have been from your end. Sorry for scaring you, but I don't regret it. I saved my new friend Wheatley. He speaks English. "

He turned to the sphere.

"Ah, is that my cue? I'm so sorry, I- I actually wasn't paying attention. So, so yeah. Hello! I'm Wheatley."

"Aizawa."

Rhett beeped.

Aizawa made eye contact with Hizashi, who was smiling sweetly at him. He shimmied off Midoriya's bed and clapped his hands once he was on his feet.

"Ok! So how about dinner? I'm thinking takeout, as a treat!"

***

Midoriya was...

Slipping. No, he'd slipped.

He was falling.

There was manic laughter echoing all around the artificial, stark, white walls of the Aperture Science elevator shaft he was plummeting down.

The halls and opening were racing past him as the filtered air tore through his hair.

How did he...get here?

He lifted his hand to shoot a portal.

Only...that wasn't his portal gun. This was one of the older models. One of the handheld devices, not the literal hand devices. In the back of his mind, he vaguely noticed the outline of something falling next to him.

He lifted his other hand(?), the one not occupied by the heavy portal gun, up to his head. Grasping at the hair, he pulled it down to his eye level.

First off, his hair shouldn't be that smooth.

Second off, brown?

Instead of curly, dark green hair, he was staring blankly at longer, straight, brown locks.

How...bizarre.

"... _I'm_..."

He turned towards the direction of the sound. He couldn't hear it clearly. His head felt like it was full of cotton. 

Wait, it was the thing he'd seen falling!

It was...a potato? Yes, a potato, with a curious yellow light.

"How are you doing, because I'm a _potato_!"

That voice. Glados?

He kept falling, only he could now see the dark floor at the end of the tunnel. And he was rapidly falling towards it.

"Could you maybe take off one of those Aperture Science Long-Fall boots and stick me in it? Just be sure to land on one foot..."

_Bang_

He blinked his eyes open, seeing the potato being carried off by a...pigeon?

What even...?

...

Midoriya opened his eyes in his room. And by _his_ , he meant Aizawa and Hizashi's spare bedroom.

He blinked the sleep from his eyes, lifting his hands to look at them.

'Nope, still fake.'

The familiar white of his cybernetic hands twinkled in the early morning light. In his dream, he'd _felt_ his hair-or rather, her hair. 

He'd felt the weight of the portal gun, the cool rush of air. The feeling of touch, fleeting as he woke up more and more. 

How long would it take for him to forget that feeling completely?

His mood was dropping already.

He looked around his room briefly, his eyes pausing on both Rhett and Wheatley individually.

"That was... weird."

He had been a girl. That was the most notable thing. The second was that he had the original portal gun. As in, the model he'd used up until Glados decided to 'upgrade' him.

And what was with the falling?

He started as he pondered the contents of the dream.

Glados' voice coming from a potato.

His mind flung him through his memories, back to his first conversation with Wheatley.

'What was it he said? Even putting her in a potato wasn't a match for them...what the hell...'

He pushed his blanket aside and stood up, quickly throwing on his uniform.

"Whealtey? Are you awake?"

The blue light flickered to life as Midoriya shuffled around his room. The eye roamed around momentarily before settling on him again.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm uh, I'm up and at 'em! Absolutely pumped about being back on earth. It's mad, space was fun or whatever, but...gravity! I never thought I'd miss gravity. Mad, I'm telling you."

Midoriya raised an eyebrow at the core, smiling.

"Great, good to know. I'm heading to school soon, but would you mind if I brought you as well? I'm hoping Hatsume will be able to clean you up a bit, or make it a bit easier for me to carry you around."

"Oh, not a problem! No problem at all, I have no preference, to be honest. Just, whatever you need, I'm glad to help out."

Midoriya picked Wheatley up by his handles and ran to the kitchen.

Aizawa was downing his second mug full of espresso when Midoriya placed Wheatley down on the counter.

"Morning, kid."

Midoriya threw him a smile.

"Good morning, sunshine. Sleep well?"

Aizawa snorted.

"Nope, I have to explain to my students, whom I wanted to intimidate, that yelling at you was irrational and irresponsible of me. I just hope they still hold some shred of respect for me after I grovel for their forgiveness."

The boy rolled his eyes playfully.

"You're so dramatic. I'm sure they will still be terrified of you. I can act scared if you think that'll sell it."

He chugged some juice and swallowed a few mouthfuls of one of Hizashi's favourite American cereals.

He'd probably cry when they ran out, but Midoriya was in a bit of a rush.

Plus, they were delicious.

"Come on, I'm driving you today."

***

He was knocking on the door of the Support labs ten minutes before class, just as he had hoped. He wanted to drop Wheatley off with Hatsume, and hopefully she'd be able to help him out.

Powerloader pushed open the heavy, metal doors.

"Hey, kid. Here for Hatsume? She told me all about your conversation yesterday."

Midoriya's heart dropped out of his chest.

'She told him? What did she tell him?! Had she actually understood anything I said to Wheatley? But she hadn't reacted...unless she was just very good at hiding her true motivations. Oh, damn it. How screwed am I?'

"Very cool tech you've got. I hope you made use of the costume designers for the hero course. Come on in, I'll get her."

'Oh.'

He sighed heavily. Mostly in relief, but a little in disappointment with himself. He could tell she hadn't been malicious in any way. She had actually been really friendly, considering that he was a complete stranger asking her to take time out of her day to fix a robot he never explained the origin of truthfully.

He followed Powerloader into the labs, already seeing Hatsume from across the room.

It was hard _not_ to see her when she was attached to the ceiling. Literally. She lit up when she saw him.

"Hey! Greenie's back!"

Detaching herself from the ceiling... somehow... she landed on the floor in front of him. She tugged off her mechanical belt, flinging it onto an already sizeable pile of 'babies'.

"So! What can I help you with!"

"So, I brought Wheatley in again because I was wondering if you could help me with something. It's kind of hard carrying him around like this all the time. Do you think there's anything you could do to help? I can pay you back for it. Plus, you can have some pretty interesting conversations with him."

Hatsume made grabby hands at Wheatley, placing him down on her workspace.

"Hm, he could use a clean as well. Maybe tighten a screw here or there. Some polish and bam! He'll be good as new! As for mobility? I'm sure I could come up with something by the end of the day. Be back after class and I'll show off what I've done, I promise!"

She held out her little finger to him, her massive welding gloves making her hands deceptively large.

Midoriya linked pinkies with her, snickering at her antics. She shook their linked fingers back and forth.

Her eyes landed on his hand. She looked at it for a second too long. He started to squirm a little in her hold.

Midoriya tried to subtly separate their hands.

"Ok, I'll be back later. See you."

He sped out of the labs, ignoring the looks from both Hatsume and Powerloader.

He began walking to his classroom, feeling rather dejected. Of course she was going to be intrigued by his hands. She's a Support student in _UA_.

"She wants to design support gear for a living, of course she'll be curious. Don't overthink it."

"Midoriya?"

The green haired boy stalled in his tracks.

"Shinsou?"

The purple haired insomniac was standing a few paces in front of him.

"Hey, how are you? I was going to text you after yesterday, but I didn't want to freak you out or anything."

Midoriya waved his hands in front of him nervously.

"Oh no, not at all, I'd appreciate anything! I'm fine, why do you ask?"

Shinsou looked at him like he was crazy.

"Aizawa yelled at you in front of everyone because you teleported yourself into space."

Midoriya sweat dropped.

"Right, yeah. Uh, that was a bit of a misunderstanding. And Aizawa apologised, so I'm good."

Shinsou still looked concerned.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"No, why do you ask?"

They blinked at each other.

The purple haired boy rolled his eyes, smiling.

"Alright, but if he makes any cracks at you today I'll make him regret it."

"I find that hard to believe."

Shinsou smirked.

"Bet."

The two strolled to class 1-A, with plenty of time before class was supposed to start. He hadn't been as delayed with Hatsume as he'd expected.

'But', he thought, 'I did kind of run out of there.'

"So...did Uraraka or Iida message you?"

Midoriya looked at him curiously.

"No? I mean, I don't think so. Let me check."

He pulled his phone from his bag, holding the power button when nothing happened.

"Oh shit, it's dead. I never even noticed."

Shinsou gave him a sympathetic look.

"Dang, that sucks. You could ask Kaminari, he was the one with the electricity quirk. I saw him charging... Jirou? I think that's her name. He was charging her phone."

Midoriya nodded appraisingly. 

"He must have a lot of control over it if he can charge a phone without frying it. I saw him use his electricity briefly yesterday, and he seems to have a pretty large amount of power he can work with. I wonder if he has any practical moves yet."

"We're here."

Midoriya snapped out of his trance. Shinsou was holding the door handle, ready to open it, with an amused look on his face.

"Oh! Sorry, I got a bit lost in thought there."

"Don't apologise, it's interesting."

Midoriya smiled softly as Shinsou pushed open the door, letting him walk in first.

"MIDORIYA!"

...oops?

Maybe he should have charged his phone.

Uraraka practically tackled him as he entered the classroom.

"What was that yesterday?! You leapt into space! It was so cool!"

Midoriya tried to smile as she shook him back and forth by the shoulders.

"Thanks? I thought I'd build off what you did to get a good score."

That gave her pause. She looked pleasantly surprised.

"Wow! I inspired you to do that? How did you think to do it?"

Midoriya scratched his neck as Shinsou laughed at him.

Iida was staring at him with his arms crossed.

"Iida? You alright, buddy?"

He strode forward with the elegance of a dressage pony.

"Don't 'buddy' me, that was extremely dangerous! The health implications of the vacuum of space alone should have been enough for you to know what you did was self-destructive. If something had gone wrong, you could have died!"

Midoriya looked away. He hated disappointing people. And his friends? Even more so.

"I'm sorry, Iida. I wasn't thinking straight. I can assure you, I won't be doing that again. I acted rashly and I'm sorry for scaring you."

Iida deflated at the apology.

"I shouldn't have yelled, Midoriya. You just caught me off guard. And then you didn't answer my text messages."

Uraraka chimed in.

"Yeah! I even tried calling you, and nothing! What happened?"

Midoriya smiled awkwardly.

"I didn't realise my phone was dead, sorry."

They both seemed placated by the admission.

Midoriya glanced around the room in passing.

Oh fuck.

Everyone was staring at him.

"Uh..."

The redhead, Kirishima, sprung up from his seat, slamming his hands on his desk.

"DUDE! Your performance yesterday was so MANLY!"

More voices chimed in with other such praise. Midoriya instantly blushed a violent shade of red.

"O-Oh, thank you! I, uh, I appreciate it!"

"Oui, it was très magnifique, mon ami."

The sparkly boy was patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah! It looked super cool, too. That portal was so powerful!"

A pink girl was bouncing in front of him.

"Oh! Yeah, they are pretty strong, I guess."

Kaminari's voice joined the cacophony.

"Yeah, dude! You really got to show off your skills, I'm pretty sure it's what we're all curious about."

"Huh?"

Said blond threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Did you really open a portal to the moon?"

Midoriya noticed the class were watching on in anticipation of his answer. Even the half and half boy, Todoroki was his name, was staring at him with an intensity he wasn't expecting.

"Yeah, I did. It was kind of a bad idea, but I'm still glad I did it."

"Woah, that's so cool, dude! It's no surprise you got fifth overall."

Midoriya perked up.

"Wait, really?"

Kirishima showed off his blinding smile.

"Hell yeah dude, it was so manly and cool! I'm amazed by your control!"

Midoriya internally, reluctantly thanked Glados for making the portal gun so easy to operate. Reluctantly.

The door to the class slammed open, Aizawa looking like death at the door.

Everyone, including himself, immediately dashed to their seats.

"Three seconds. An improvement, but not good enough yet."

The mood of the class dropped spectacularly.

"Before we begin today, I would like to apologise to Midoriya, and by extension, the rest of you. I behaved irrationally and improperly yesterday. You surprised me, and I wasn't expecting to be surprised by my students. I shouldn't have yelled."

Kaminari made the fatal mistake of speaking.

"Aw, looks like Mr. Scary over here has a big ol' heart!"

Aizawa's head snapped over to him so fast Midoriya practically got second-hand whiplash.

His eyes glowed a dangerous red as his hair floated up. Kaminari instantly shrank.

"Are you _mocking me_ for apologising?"

Even though it was phrased as one, it wasn't a question. 

"Nope! Not at all! Sorry sensei, it won't happen again!"

Midoriya smiled to himself. Aizawa was rough around the edges but he was a big softie. 

He could see it at home, with how he treated Chonk, and how him and Hizashi interacted so naturally with each other despite their opposite personalities. Even with himself. While he wasn't great at listening, he cared deeply about Midoriya's wellbeing. He hadn't even known him that long yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, please let me know what ye think!!


	10. Back to Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hatsume is the best and the heroes versus villain training exercise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo dudes, how's yalls new year going so far?
> 
> THANK YOU FOR 25K HOLY SHIT JGJEJFJDJVKKFKV
> 
> Also, the link to the playlist as usual hehe 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ldUh9TugWyPfHCbdY7muW?si=wVcF3sjwTvGwNXc3NgeC8Q

"Greenie! You'll be shocked and awed by my new babies, I swear it's genius!"

Midoriya shrunk into his collar a bit, smiling. Hatsume was a very touchy-feely person, but Midoriya found he didn't mind. He hadn't had much physical affection since moving into Hizashi and Aizawa's, but he wasn't about to ask them. Hatsume was friendly, and liked to constantly be touching and fiddling with things around her. 

That included him.

She threw an arm around his shoulders as she led him over to her workspace. He could see Wheatley sitting casually among a mixed group of technology. He couldn't tell what any of it did from a glance, but knowing Hatsume, some of it was definitely over the top. And possibly explosive.

"Okay! Wheatley!"

Said robot flickered to life, turning in their direction.

"Hiya! How are we? I'm doing grand, yeah. This lovely lass has been very accommodating, very much so. Yeah, I'm very comfortable. Very happy, glad to report."

Midoriya blanched.

"Wheatley? You speak Japanese?"

Hatsume perked up next to him.

"Hell yeah, he does! I had a look 'under the hood', and WOW! There were two hundred different language options in his code. This little guy has some of the most detailed and complex programming I've ever seen. It was amazing, just seeing it, and all the data came together and just... _works_! I...it's amazing that Aperture had such powerful technology so long ago! Oh man, what I wouldn't give to see the rest of what they created. You know, they could've boosted our technology by decades."

Midoriya sweated through his under shirt as she went on about how 'brilliant' Aperture was.

'Yeah', he thought, 'because they used humans to test their killer tech. It's a miracle I don't have permanent brain damage.'

"Anyway! Let me show you what I've created!"

Wheatley perked up where he was sitting. Hatsume picked up a cylinder about the size of his forearm. 

"To begin, this is a prototype. It's not finished yet, but I'm excited about it. It's essentially a drone. I had a look at Wheatley's coding, and it's so versatile I think I could upload him to this. You could have him flying around, helping you in battles and stuff!"

Midoriya looked on in awe as she clicked a button on the top of the drone. It extended, with little propellers sticking out at both ends.

She passed it to him to inspect as she picked up the next thing.

"This is a pair of glasses. It's more like a visor, but it has similar features to the drone. I'm thinking of connecting them together, so that this little guy could be flying around, and the video feed would show up on the visor! It's a long way off...but! I think I can handle it!"

Wheatley blinked happily at them.

"Amazing, isn't it? This fleshy here would've impressed even Aperture's finest engineers. I mean, one day to create all this! Imagine how much she could do with a portal gun!"

Midoriya whipped his head to Wheatley, making a chopping motion at his neck.

Hatsume, unfortunately, heard him.

"Portal gun? WOAH! That is insane, Aperture had functioning portal guns? How did they work?"

Wheatley glanced between them quickly.

"Well, uh. I'm not sure if I should say, really. I'm no engineer, plus I only really saw the gun myself once. Twice. Well, it was all in the span of a day or two. I certainly was up close and personal with it though. I'm not sure exactly how it worked, but I'm sure there was something to do with the moon? Maybe...moon phases or something. Well, no. That wouldn't make any sense, would it? Sorry."

Hatsume chucked to herself.

"Don't worry about it! If it's been done once, it can be done again. And I will be the genius to recreate it!"

Midoriya watched in silent agony. One wrong word and he would be revealed. One thoughtless comment and his big, life-changing secret would be revealed.

So why was he so unsure of himself? 

He wanted someone to know. Did he? Yeah. He did. He wanted someone he could talk to, other than Hizashi and Aizawa. He cared about them, but they worried about him too much. They never paid much attention to the tech, not really. Hizashi had expressed interest, but not much past that.

Hatsume loved technology. It was her life, and her future. She had decided to dedicate her genius to creating for others.

Could he trust her to keep it a secret? She wasn't exactly the quiet type.

He also didnt want her to ask him a million questions. He hadn't known her that long, yeah he felt close with her, but that was more because she was so open about things.

Does he? Doesn't he?

"Greenie!"

He snapped out of his thoughts to see both Hatsume and Wheatley staring at him.

"Oh! Sorry, I was...distracted."

Hatsume smiled and waved it off.

"No problem dude! I was just about to show you the last thing I have one hundred percent ready! I think. I'm pretty sure it'll work fine."

She picked up what looked like a USB, but smaller.

"May I have your phone for a moment?"

Curious, he obliged, handing it over.

She gingerly clicked the USB into the charger port. It made a quiet beep when it connected, and his screen lit up with Hatsume's logo. 

It was a detailed 'H' with cross hatches, coloured in vibrant shades of pink, the same as her hair.

"Okay, I'll give that a second to load. Basically, I made a copy of Wheatley's code and transferred it onto this USB I created for this very purpose. His code is surprisingly compact considering its detail. Anyway, the USB will upload Wheatley onto your phone, so you can talk to him wherever you go!"

"Woah! Hatsume, that is incredible! You did this over the course of one school day?"

She glowed with pride as he watched his phone gradually turn on again. 

"I'm really happy with it, I don't have a lot of opportunities to work with code, so, thanks!"

Midoriya accepted the hug she engulfed him in.

Maybe he should tell her.

He squeezed her back with equal strength.

She would be kind about it.

She released him, patting his shoulder.

"So, what do I owe you?"

She grinned.

"Nothing! I made it all with UA equipment, as a support student, I have access to as much as I need. Instead, you can talk up my genius inventions to your classmates, and use what I make for you!"

He grinned back at her. She reached to place Wheatley back into his arms.

"By the way, what is your quirk? I'd love to make you some quirk-specific gear! I assume it has to do with your hands?"

Midoriya looked down at Wheatley, nestled in his arms. His 'arms'. The ones he was given. Given? 

The arms that were forced on him.

They weren't his. His had been ripped from him. 

His chest ached at the memory of the gammy surgical equipment. He was itching to feel his skin. 

He knew he wouldn't be happy with what he felt.

These weren't his arms. His hands. His _fingers_.

They never were.

He...

Couldn't.

He couldn't tell her.

Not yet.

"Next time, I promise. I don't want you making stuff for just me, there are so many other students that need your babies!"

She quirked a lopsided smile, raising an eyebrow.

"Alright, next time."

She raised a fist to him. He bumped hers happily.

***  
"Everyone, please escort to the meeting grounds at once!"

Iida was chopping his hands enthusiastically in the boy's changing room.

Midoriya pulled on the last part of his costume.

His costume was something he had absolutely no idea about when he applied for UA. In fact, it had slipped his mind until the night the final submissions were due.

He had been sitting at the table, leaning over a blank sheet for the better part of an hour, trying to come up with something he wouldn't mind wearing. It was a difficult task, considering all he had to go off was the superheroes he'd seen in comics and movies before Aperture, and Hizashi and Aizawa's hero costumes.

The two men were no help, unfortunately.

"Make sure it's hella flashy! You want people to recognise you from your look alone!"

"Make it low-key, if you're too recognisable, you'll be easier for villains to pick out."

"It should be bold, dramatic and with flair!"

"No, it should be functional. What good would capes and cloaks be for a kid who uses _portals_?"

The two had bickered back and forth while he had struggled to come up with anything.

He was aware he would have the opportunity to update his costume as he grew both in age and in power, but he wanted to start off strong. Unfortunately, that was extremely hard to do, because he had terrible fashion sense.

"Midoriya! We must go at once!"

He shot up, following Iida out of the changing room.

In the end, he'd gone with something comfortable and, he hoped, functional. It was a loose green hoodie that tucked into skin tight, black tracksuit pants that cut off at the knee, where his cybernetic met his flesh. He also had some small hidden pockets in his hoodie for things like medical supplies and maybe flashbangs, but he hadn't gotten approval for the latter yet.

The tracksuit had blue and orange triangles curved around the seams up his thighs. He'd requested strong fabric, so it wouldn't tear or snag, and was hopefully fireproof. God knows Glados liked setting him on fire at every opportunity for 'science'. He was never badly burned, but he was still aware that it could happen.

The last thing he wasn't sure about yet were his legs. His feet had been turned into Aperture Science's long-fall boots, and he could extend them at will for maximum shock absorption. Normally, he kept them as close to normal feet as he could, both so he could wear shoes and so he could pretend he still had feet.

He figured it made the most sense to let them extend to their full size, which ironically, made him a few inches taller. 

He bumped shoulders with Iida as they walked into the open air of the UA grounds.

The rest of the class had gathered already, and he looked around curiously at everyone's costumes. Some were eye-catching, like Aoyama's and Asui's. Some were more practical, like Bakugou's and Ashido's.

Speaking of Bakugou, the guy was decked out like a soldier, with the boots and the massive grenade...things...on his wrists.

'So, presumably some form of explosive quirk. Or misdirection.'

"Midoriya! Your costume looks so cool!"

He turned to Uraraka, who was approaching him slowly with Shinsou.

"Thanks! You both look so professional, it's so cool!"

Shinsou was dressed similarly to Aizawa. It was a simple, muted purple tracksuit with a fabric mask hanging over one ear.

Uraraka looked...a little uncomfortable.

"Yeah, mine is a bit tighter than I'd wanted. Plus, my boots are heels. I've never walked in heels, and to be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing."

Midoriya was taken aback a little. Before he could say anything, however, All Might grabbed all of their attention.

"GREETINGS STUDENTS! You all look legit in your costumes! You have made the first step to becoming fully fledged pros! Now, before we begin, there has been a...slight change. Midnight will be joining us for your training session!"

Said pro strutted out in front of the students, stopping next to All Might. 

"Yes, well, it wasn't decided until about thirty minutes ago. Your teacher just thought this class might go a little smoother with a...more experienced teacher present. I am only here to observe and make sure nothing gets out of hand."

Midoriya smiled as Midnight caught his eye. She sent him a subtle nod.

"Now, before we begin I'd like to have a look at all of your costumes! I am usually the one Nedzu gets to help when it comes to hero stuff like names, and interviews. So I know what works and what doesn't. Allow me to give you my _professional_ opinion!"

She made her way around, throwing out compliments and praise as she went. If she spent a little extra time with Midoriya, nobody seemed to notice.

Stopping at Uraraka next, she sized up her overall look.

"It's quite cute, easy on the eyes. A little tighter than I'd expect from someone with a gravity quirk, but maybe I've been spending too much time with Thirteen."

Uraraka looked up at her pensively.

"Um...Midnight? I actually am a little uncomfortable."

Her attitude immediately changed.

"Oh? What is it?"

The girl hesitated again.

"It's just...like you said. It's tight. I don't remember if I specified on my design, but I didn't want it to be skintight."

Midnight placed her hand on her chin.

"Well, we can get that fixed for you. Of course, it might take a day or two. Anything else?"

Uraraka startled.

"Wait...that's it? I can just change it?"

Midnight smiled at her warmly.

"Of course, my dear. I had a very bad costume when I was your age, and while I just got used to it, it never sat right with me that I couldn't get a replacement. So when Nedzu offered me a teaching job I made sure to get all the info! If you're unhappy with how the designer handled your costume, the Support Department will fix it up in no time at all! So, is there anything else?"

Uraraka sniffed, smiling wetly.

"Thank you, Midnight sensei. Actually, my boots are heels, but I wanted them this big so they could absorb any shock I'd feel from falling from a height. Do you think they could fix that as well?"

"Why, of course! While I'm at it, girls? May I have your attention for a moment?"

The other girls in the class gathered around Midnight.

"So I was just made aware that one of the students is unhappy with their costume. I'd like to let you all know we can submit them for changes today, with absolutely no trouble. If you would like to make any changes, please let me know and I will handle it! Of course, you can find me on your own if you would like more privacy."

Yaoyorozu took a step forward. She was visibly nervous.

"I...I would like to change my costume. When I was designing it, I didn't think it would be quite so revealing. Do you think I could speak to someone with more specific requests?"

Midnight nodded immediately.

"Of course! I will let Powerloader know as soon as the exercise starts. Anyone else?"

Hagakure stepped forward as well, though it wasn't very obvious.

"Uhm, I think I made a mistake with my costume. I refract light, so wearing clothes would give my position away. But...I'm naked? Other than the gloves and boots. Do you think there's anything they could do for me?"

"I'm sure someone has been working on something like that. I will inquire into it for you. Anyone else?"

When no one made a move, Midnight nodded, reminding them that they could approach her whenever they wanted to about changes.

She waved to All Might, who then commanded the attention of the students once again.

"Alright everyone, I will now draw the names. Remember, this is a heroes versus villains training exercise! Do not hold back, but I will alert you if you need to take it down a notch. Let's begin!"

In the end, Midoriya was in a group with Uraraka as heroes, and they were up against Kaminari and Bakugou as villains.

The latter didn't seem too pleased to be against him. Midoriya wasn't sure what his issue was. He'd been giving him a wide berth, in case he upset him. He still felt terrible about his classmate passing. He felt even worse that he'd been a bit of a dick to him at first. But he apologised.

Bakugou was glaring at him as he and Kaminari made their way inside with the bomb.

Uraraka turned to him, much more energetic than she'd been before.

"So! What's the plan?"

Midoriya pondered the question for a few seconds.

"Well, I don't know what it is about Bakugou, but he has some issue with me. We met twice before coming to UA, and neither were in particularly good circumstances. He'll probably go for me, so you should try and find the bomb, if you're okay with that."

"Sounds good! What about Kaminari?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen enough of him yet to predict how he'll behave. Bakugou will probably leave him immediately, so he'll either stay with the bomb or follow him."

Uraraka smiled.

"So I'll take out Kaminari and get the bomb while you distract Bakugou!"

They bumped fists.

All Might sounded the siren, alerting them that the exercise was starting.

"We probably shouldn't go in the same way."

Midoriya turned to her. She was looking at the windows above.

"I should go in through one of the upper windows and start looking for the bomb. I doubt they'd keep it on the first floor."

Midoriya nodded, and they parted ways.

He stepped through the open door, glancing around quickly. The dark, plain hallways were eerily reminiscent of Aperture. 

He tried not to think of Glados as he took a right.

Out of curiosity, he cast a portal on the wall next to him. To his relief, it landed.

He closed it again, continuing down the hall. He kept his footsteps silent as he turned the corner. Still no one in sight.

He tapped his intercom, quickly and quietly checking in with Uraraka.

"Hey, anything on your end yet?"

His com buzzed with white noise for a second. Uraraka's voice returned in a whisper-shout. 

"Hey! No, nothing yet. I did hear Bakugou when I first got in. From the sounds of it, you were right. He's looking for you, so be careful."

Midoriya cursed internally.

"Copy, check in again soon."

Why was Bakugou gunning for him? He'd said he was sorry, and the blond had said it was fine. Well...kinda. he _had_ brushed Midoriya off. Was he still pissed? It's not like the guy was openly ableist since the Sludge villain.

Although, Bakugou had completely avoided him on the first day, even though he'd been picking a fight with Iida. The second the blond saw him, it was like the fight in him just...vanished. Looking back, that's probably something quite alarming.

Or...is it? 

He sighed. It weirded him out how much socialising had changed. It wasn't something that he should have noticed. In reality, it wasn't even as severe a change as it was in his head, but...

People were just _open_. They talked about everything and anything to whomever was willing to listen. He thought, briefly, about his fight with Aizawa. The man had been so forthcoming about his own misconceptions and mistakes.

It was refreshing. Different. The same with Inko, Iida, Uraraka and Shinsou. They were so much more comfortable with him than he'd expected, especially considering he hadn't known any of them for that long.

His mind paused at Inko. He'd been meaning to visit her again. They spoke when he got his results, and it was lovely, but he wanted to see her again. Maybe he'd ask Aizawa after school today.

His earpiece flickered to life.

"Midoriya! I found the bomb, and Kaminari is here. He's guarding it, I think. I can't see Bakugou anywhere, so he might be getting closer to you. I'll try and take out Kaminari."

Midoriya leaned around the next turn, focusing for the sound of anything out of the ordinary.

"Copy, be careful. He has a strong quirk, try not to get too close."

He took the stairs to the next floor. His gut twisted. Looking around, he spotted an almost unnoticeable trail of stirred-up dust.

'Was that from their initial entry into the building, or has Bakugou been here recently?'

He slipped around the corner, keeping his breathing silent. Finally, he heard something.

Footsteps, angry ones.

Bakugou was approaching him. He twisted, casting a portal at the end of the hallway, and stepped through one directly behind him. He closed the portals after him.

The footsteps stalled.

"I know you're there, come out and fight me, you COWARD!"

He rolled his eyes. Bakugou was shouting more threats. Midoriya tapped on his com, not saying anything, but hoping it was sensitive enough for Uraraka to hear Bakugou's muffled yells.

"Be careful."

Her voice was practically a breath, it was so quite.

He stood up, preparing to move again. His plan was to distract Bakugou as much as possible, but he had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't work out the way he was hoping.

Said boy appeared around the corner he was standing by.

In an instant, he threw more portals, and he was putting plenty of distance between them, but not quick enough that he didn't feel the wave of heat at the oncoming explosion.

It was eerily reminiscent of Aperture's bombs.

'Put it out of your mind. Get in the zone.'

Bakugou was screaming insults at him as Midoriya dashed around in a massive circle. When Bakugou got close, he would slip to the staircase, and the cycle would begin anew.

Midoriya knew he probably wouldn't be able to beat him in close contact, considering Bakugou had explosives at his disposal.

He leapt around the bend, dive-rolling away from the hostile boy.

"Hah, what, are you too scared to fight me?!"

"I'm actually trying this fun thing where I don't get burned. So far, it's going great!"

Bakugou growled. He seemed...feral almost.

His eyes were clouded over.

Midoriya hesitated.

Bakugou blasted him in the side.

"OW, FUCK!"

He slammed into the wall, pushing himself up again. He subtly tried to grab the capture tape All Might had given the hero team for the exercise, but Bakugou sent another blast his way, distracting him. 

He threw a convenient pile of stones and rocks, presumably from the construction of the building, at Bakugou's face.

One thing that Aizawa had taught him in their little sessions, was this:

When fighting an opponent that could physically beat you in combat, play dirty.

The boy tried to shield his eyes from the dust and sharp edges, and Midoriya flung his leg in a wide arc, landing a powerful kick across the other's face.

Bakugou stumbled back, clutching his nose. He glared up at him from under his bangs.

"Why don't you just fuck off and let me _beat you?!_ "

Midoriya dropped into a stronger fighting stance.

"Well come and get it!"

The two dove for each other. Kicking and pushing from both sides. Bakugou slammed his shoulders against the cold concrete of the floor. He was pushing against him so hard it probably should have hurt, if he had any feeling in his shoulders.

The blond was panting, partially from exertion. Midoriya couldn't tell what the other part was.

Suddenly, he laughed. He laughed a sad and bitter thing that gave Midoriya pause.

A hand slammed down on his face, pushing him into the floor again.

"Fucker, I win. I told you I would win. Now let me crush you like the ant you are."

Bakugou raised his left arm slowly, tugging at the gauntlet on his right forearm. It clicked. Midoriya's eyes widened.

A pin.

On a grenade.

'Oh, SHIT!'

All Might's voice boomed over their coms, but Bakugou either didn't notice, or was ignoring it.

"YOUNG BAKUGOU, you mustn't fire that from such close range! You'll injure Midoriya more than you think you will! Bakugou! BAKUGOU, STOP, YOU'LL KILL HIM!"

He wrapped a finger around the pin.

Midoriya thrashed, trying to throw him off, but he had his head in a vice-like grip.

There was a manic, twisted smile on his face, but his eyes...

His eyes were far away.

He tugged the pin.

As if in slow motion, Midoriya threw two portals, and he fell out from under Bakugou. The portal shut just as Bakugou's super charged explosion went off.

As the final sparks flickered out, Midoriya braced himself on a wall behind Bakugou. He was breathing heavily.

"What the _fuck_? Were you trying to cook me?"

In the back of his mind, he was aware that he probably shouldn't be screaming at the clearly unstable boy, but _god_ , he was about to be history. Literally.

He stomped over to Bakugou, who was still kneeling in place, unmoving, unblinking.

Bakugou stumbled to his feet, taking a few steps away from him, but Midoriya didn't let him slip away.

"Bakugou! What the hell were you doing?"

He wasn't looking at him. Midoriya watched as his hands twitched and flexed.

Bakugou took two long strides toward him, and he prepared to be punched.

To his surprise, Bakugou yanked his capture tape off of him, wrapped it around his own neck, and walked out.

Midoriya watched him go.

'...what? Is he...okay? He just went from trying to fry me like an egg to handing me the win. What the _hell_ was that about? I am so out of practice when it comes to other people and their emotions being a factor in trials.'

At least Glados was open to conversation while trying to kill him.

"... _oriya!_ '

He started, throwing his hand to his com.

"Y-yeah?"

"Are you okay? What was that? The whole building just shook!"

Midoriya brushed himself off.

"I'm not sure. Are you okay? What about Kaminari?"

"I'm fine, Kaminari is still guarding the bomb. Neither of us can fight if we can't get close, so we've been staring each other down for way too long. When I find them, I throw rocks at him."

Midoriya chuckled, trying to calm his racing heart.

"I'll be up in a second."

He sprinted up two flights of stairs, using his portals to speed up.

He dashed into the room where the noise was coming from.

As he entered, he saw Kaminari throwing the rocks back at Uraraka. They were both clearly getting frustrated at the lack of progress on both sides.

He ran around to the other side of Kaminari, so he and Uraraka surrounded him. 

"Oh, rats."

Midoriya smiled at him.

Kaminari chucked his last rock at Uraraka and made a mad sprint for Midoriya, hoping to get close enough to land a proper hit. 

Midoriya ducked back, but not out of the yellow-blonds range. He watched as Uraraka quite literally flew for the bomb, reaching out with arms and legs.

Kaminari's electricity charged up as he threw out his arm.

'Fuck.'

He was surrounded in blinding light for a full three seconds.

Then came the _pain_.

He was spasming, his hands curled in on themselves and he was on the ground.

He could feel the energy tearing through the tech embedded into his body.

He was clawing at his head, trying desperately to stop the pain-

And then, there was black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think, I love reading every comment I get!!!!!


	11. Nothing Arrived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath and some conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, sorry this is later than I anticipated. I wasn't happy with where the chapter was going so I scrapped it and started over.
> 
> YALL I????? 29 THOUSAND??????? THANKS EKFJWNFJQKJFWB
> 
> Link to the spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ldUh9TugWyPfHCbdY7muW?si=SnD99pf_TDyS_iWjkPl9Gg&utm_source=copy-link

Midoriya was aware of the movement around him. Someone was talking. Frantically.

God he was tired.

He wrenched his eyes open, looking at the commotion going on through hooded eyes.

Kaminari seemed to be freaking out. And pointing at him.

What had happened? 

'Oh...OH, right. Bakugou tried to fry me and Kaminari _did_ fry me. Jeez.'

He flexed his hands. They responded slower than normal.

'Fucking wonderful.'

" _Wait_ , he's awake! Midoriya? Bro? Are you okay?"

He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. Uraraka was beside him in an instant to keep him supported.

He rubbed idly at his head. His hair had come out of it's ponytail. He was only mildly annoyed by it.

"Yep," he stretched his neck back and forth, "give me a second, that attack really threw me. Nice one!"

The yellow-blond sputtered. His jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Hold up, you're _congratulating_ me? I thought I _killed you!"_

Midoriya snickered to himself. If only they knew how often he was torn apart. 

His mood took a dip.

"Nah, don't worry about it, I'm tougher than I look."

He flexed his hands again, twisting his wrists around. Back to normal.

Or rather...as 'normal' as they could be.

He slowly stood up, reeling as his brain tried to catch up with the movement. 

"It's not a concussion or anything. You probably just shocked my circuits."

Kaminari looked at him funny for a second.

"Oh! I didn't realise it was, like, technology? I don't know, I figured it was like Iida's engines. A mix of himself and his engine bits."

Midoriya shrugged.

"So uh...what happened when I blacked out?"

Uraraka stood up next to him.

"Nothing really, you were only out for a few seconds. It was really freaky though! You were bugging out on the ground, I thought you were going to hurt yourself."

He rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Sorry, I had no idea my, uh, quirk would react to electricity like that. Good to know, though."

All Might suddenly appeared in the doorway with no amount of elegance.

"YOUNG MIDORIYA! Are you feeling alright? Thought we lost you there!"

Midoriya waved him off.

"I'm okay, just a bit frazzled I guess."

All Might gave him a once over, checking for any visible injuries.

"Alright, if you're sure, my boy! Well, congratulations are in order for young Uraraka and yourself, you've won the round! Please follow me back to the viewing area!"

An awkward shuffle filled with worrying gazes later, they were surrounded by the rest of the class and Midnight, who was not so secretly looking at Bakugou.

Bakugou had a strange air about him. He was standing alone, and the rest of the class weren't quick to correct that, bar Kirishima. The boy looked concerned.

Shinsou had stood next to Midoriya at some point, but didn't feel the need to say anything. He bumped the taller boy in the shoulder. Shinsou bumped back.

All Might cleared his voice loudly in front of the monitors.

"OKAY! After that...turbulent round, let's get to the discussions! Young Midoriya and Uraraka won the round, but who was the MVP? Anyone?"

A girl with dark hair in a high ponytail, Yaoyorozu he thinks, raised her hand. All Might nodded to her.

"Thank you, sensei. I think the MVP was Uraraka. She planned to cover more ground and avoid possible conflict by entering through another window, and knew not to engage in conflict she couldn't win on her own, as her and Kaminari both have mid to close range abilities. She also utilised her quirk to reach the bomb with maximum speed. Hence, she is the MVP."

Said girl was glowing pink under the praise. Midoriya patted her on the back with a smile.

She grinned back at him.

All Might called for the next round, and Todoroki, Shouji, Hagakure and Ojirou (he thinks) left for their turn. He shuffled over to the far wall, where there were a few benches laid out.

He watched as Midnight slowly crept next to him, not sitting down, but standing right above an open seat. He patted her arm, smiling.

She sat down.

"Are you feeling okay?"

He glanced around to see if anyone was looking their way, before resting his head against her shoulder.

She ran a hand through his hair.

"Did you lose a hair tie?"

"Yeah, I didn't think to look for it."

She pulled one from her wrist, gently braiding his hair.

"It's getting very long. It suits you!"

He chuckled. 

"Thanks. Aizawa is going to be on the warpath when he hears what happened today."

She let out a breathy laugh, nodding.

"I doubt he'll let that Bakugou boy off easy. All Might was the only one with a comm, did he say something to you? It looked like he was going to kill you."

Midoriya sighed.

"I don't know what's going on with him. I think there's some personal stuff he's trying to figure out, but...it's concerning. I think he has it out for me."

Midnight looked pensive.

"I don't know...I don't think he was in the right headspace. He didn't look present. It was like he wasn't in control."

He looked at her, openly curious. She continued after a breath.

"I probably shouldn't say more, but I might mention it to Shouta. Enough about all that, how's class? We couldn't really talk before the exercise."

Midoriya grinned. She liked seeing him happy. It was like spite at the bastards that hurt him.

"It's really cool. Weird, very different, but cool. I feel like I'm in a comic or something. I've made some friends, and I'm curious about where things are going."

"That's good! Has anyone...caught your eye?"

He rolled his eyes but chuckled.

"Thanks for taking an interest in my personal life, but no. I haven't really let myself think about anything other than the now."

She quirked a half smile in understanding.

"And the two glorious fools? How have they been treating you?"

He giggled.

"Aizawa and Hizashi? They've been great. The only small thing has been resolved for the most part."

He looked back at her. She had one eyebrow raised.

"Aizawa and _Hizashi_? You're not on a first name basis with both of them?"

Huh...he hadn't even thought about that.

"I guess...that thing I mentioned is kind of a part of it. I...I got a bit frustrated with Aizawa because I thought he was, like, ignoring what happened to me. It's nothing bad, but he would change the subject a lot and get annoyed at me for things I wouldn't consider abnormal. We're passed that now, we've both apologised for being insensitive. It was around then that I was spending a lot more time with Hizashi. He just asked me to call him by his name and I returned the favour."

"And has Aizawa said anything about the names since?"

He rubbed his neck.

"I...don't know, actually. If he was thinking it, he never said it. Should I have offered? He isn't exactly the most forward with personal things like that."

She snorted.

"Ain't that the truth. As for whether or not you should? It's more a question of if you _want_ to. If you're not comfortable, don't bother. If you're not sure? Take a little while to think about it."

He nodded, taking a mental note. He smirked sardonically.

"It's kind of ironic, isn't it? Aizawa saved me from Aperture and yet I'm closer with his partner."

"You know, he'd probably say you were better off not getting attached to him just because he saved you."

"Maybe. That does sound like him."

Midoriya was suddenly aware of eyes on him. He looked around for the source, and made direct eye contact with Todoroki.

Apparently his round was already over. 

He was still leaning up against Midnight. 

Todoroki's eyes narrowed.

Midnight seemed to realise at the same time as him how strange it would look for them to be sitting together so casually.

She stood up, whispering a goodbye, and strut her way back to All Might at the front. Todoroki watched her exit, before giving him a final look.

'Rats.'

***

When the last of the rounds were over, the class gradually filed out of the viewing area. The trip to the changing rooms was filled with a mix of chatter and silence, depending on who was in the mood to speak.

Midoriya was walking next to Shinsou, discussing the insomniacs round.

"I didn't even do anything. It was all Yaoyorozu."

Midoriya patted him on the back.

"I mean, it was a good strategy. Have her set up elaborate traps and you use your quirk as a last defence method. I'm pretty sure no one's figured out how it works yet."

Shinsou shrugged.

"We knew that, the hero team didn't know that. The rest of the class didn't know that. To them I probably look like a slacker. Riding on her coattails."

Midoriya lightly smacked his arm.

"Hey, enough of that. If it had been a different pairing, it would've gone differently. Like if it had been you and me, my portals wouldn't be much help aside from movement and maybe distraction against someone like Todoroki. You could probably have gotten him if it had been a different pairing."

Shinsou shook his head.

"You have too much faith in me."

"No, I know you've worked hard to be here, and that your power is super cool, what ever it is."

"You have to think that, you're my friend."

Midoriya smirked.

"I can't be your friend and form my own opinions?"

Shinsou smiled into the high neck of his jacket, a simple, dark purple trench coat.

"It requires quite a lot of brain power. Do you have enough to spare?"

The green boy threw an arm over his head, looking away dramatically.

"Ouch, my poor soul. You've burned me, saboteur."

Shinsou snorted. Midoriya smiled and bumped shoulders with him again. Shinsou bumped back.

They separated to go to their lockers. Midoriya slipped into the bathroom to change out of his costume.

He tugged his hoodie over his head, adjusting the white vest underneath. He paused.

His hand slowly moved back over his chest.

Something...wasn't right.

He put his hoodie down onto his bag, and tugged the neckline of the vest out of his way.

The small, white disk in the centre of his chest.

It looked off.

'What the fuck.'

He pulled the vest off over his head and started eyeing the disk again. He ran a finger over where the white met his skin.

It was higher on one side.

'That can't...what the fuck did she do to me?"

He wished, not for the first time, that he had any feeling in his hands. The best Aperture could replicate was the sensation of pressure. No pain. No sensitivity.

He stared at the disk for far too long.

'Maybe I should ask Wheatley...'

Shaking himself out of his funk, he buttoned up his shirt, fumbled with his tie and tugged on his blazer.

Once he was semi-presentable he made his way back to the much emptier changing room.

Back in the classroom, he tried maintaining idle conversation with his friends, avoiding Todoroki's stare and also trying to focus on Bakugou.

The blond was outright ignoring Kirishima. That was just plain rude.

Bakugou stood up out of the blue, pushing past the eager boy and out of the classroom.

Midoriya said a quick goodbye to his friends, following the other out.

He was caught off guard by how fast the other was moving. By the time he reached the front entrance, Bakugou was already one foot out the gate. 

He ran forward, not letting what happened go.

"HEY, hold on a second!"

The other boy paused in his stride, jerking slightly before evening out again.

'What the hell am I doing?'

Midoriya came to a pause around ten feet from the volatile blond.

"What do you _want_."

Midoriya mentally noticed that what he said wasn't a question. 

Still.

"Are you seriously asking me why I'm bothering to confront you after you tried to kill me?"

Bakugou flinched, looking away.

That was...new.

Silence.

"...were you really about to pretend that didn't happen?"

Midoriya's voice was much softer the second time. Bakugou glared at him from under his bangs.

More silence.

"Okay, I know we may not have gotten off on the right foot, and yeah I probably could have just acted like we didn't know each other when I was at Aldera, but this is getting ridiculous."

Bakugou's nose twitched.

A reaction is all Midoriya needed.

"I can understand that you were too _proud_ for help with the sludge guy, or whatever, and I'm sure you were caught off guard when I showed up at your school, but what I'm trying to figure out is why the _fuck_ you thought _burning me alive_ was the best way to incapacitate me."

Bakugou grit his teeth, taking a single step away from him.

And, no. Midoriya was not going to let him run away from that.

"Is this about that boy? I read an article about a classmate of yours. Look, I'm sorry if me sitting in his seat brought stuff up for you, but that doesn't _justify_ trying to KILL me."

"Don't _you_ fucking talk to me about _him_."

Midoriya was surprised he answered at all.

"Tell me _why_."

"It's none of your fucking business!"

Midoriya threw up his arms in frustration.

"I think it's my business if you suddenly try to kill me at the first opportunity!"

Bakugou growled.

"The _fuck_ do you want me to say? That I'm 'sorry', that I keep fucking seeing _him_ , that it's my fucking _FAULT?_ I get enough of that shit from my therapist. Stay the _fuck_ out of my way and I'll stay out of yours."

Midoriya didn't react outwardly.

'What the fuck? What?'

The blond let out a grunt before turning and stomping off.

Midoriya couldn't help but notice that it looked like he was crying.

Later, when he was back home and in the comfort of his room, he would ponder what Bakugou could have possibly meant. Midoriya guessed he hadn't meant to reveal that he was both in therapy and dealing with something in regards to the boy. He was still angry about almost being blown up, but he was more worried for the other. 

That kind of reaction was _not_ normal. Especially towards someone he didn't know.

Midoriya sighed in frustration. There was still something he was missing.  
***

A day later, the weekend, saw him at Inko's front door again. He'd been meaning to visit, but her texts had been a comfort to him. The last shred of the life he once had.

Hizashi shifted beside him as he reached to ring the bell. He had brought another cake, a chocolate one this time. 

He wasn't sure if she liked chocolate.

The door opened.

"Hello Izuku! And who's this?"

He smile seemed lively-er. He smiled back.

"This is Yamada Hizashi, Aizawa's partner. He has also been taking care of me."

She greeted the yellow-blond warmly, bringing them inside.

"Would you like tea? I see you've brought me more sweets."

"Yes please, anything is fine for me. And yeah, I brought chocolate cake."

"Oh! That sounds lovely. And you, Yamada?"

The man was busy looking at some picture frames scattered around the apartment.

"Oh! Uh, yeah. I mean, yes please!"

She chuckled at him, disappearing into the kitchen.

Hizashi turned to him.

"She seems nice! I like her."

Midoriya smiled at him.

"She is. It's weird. I'm like her great uncle, but she's more of an aunt figure to me than anything else. Well...even that might be a bit forward."

The man nodded, pointing at one of the pictures.

"Y'know, when Aizawa said you look like her kid I didn't think he meant that literally."

Midoriya shrunk a bit. Glancing at the image himself, he couldn't help but feel guilty. 

He knew in his head he wasn't responsible for anything that transpired in that boy's life, but he felt...

Guilty.

Like he'd taken the other's place.

In the dark of the night, when he was alone with nothing but his head, he even counted back the months. He got out close enough to when this boy, Inko Akatani's son, died. He'd pestered Aizawa for details, and yet he was still paying the price.

He had tried not to look at the photos of him for too long. The longer he looked the more he _saw_.

The same face, only paler. The same eyes, only red. The same messy hair, only an inky black.

Maybe it was just his genetics, making every family member look strikingly similar to each other. Take him and his sister. They were practically identical, despite the age difference.

Even Inko looked like his sister. And mother.

He still wasn't sure where they stood.

Hizashi put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, whatever you're thinking, it's just your panicky brain. Let's enjoy some cake and conversation. If you still feel bad in a bit, we can talk about it on the way home."

 _Home_.

"I...yeah. Yeah, okay."

Hizashi flashed a small smile, pulling him over to the couch for a chat. He was clearly trying to distract the teen, but Midoriya appreciated it nonetheless.

Inko returned shortly after with a neat tray.

After settling on the couch with them, she opened the cake box, letting out a little 'wow!'. Once they were all munching on the treat, she spoke up.

"So, how has UA been? I've heard some near magical stories on the news, but I'd like to hear a first hand account, if you don't mind."

Midoriya smiled at her. 

"Sure! It's a lot more normal than I was expecting. As in, I still have all the basic classes, only the teachers are all heroes. I feel like I'm in a comic or something. I've made a few friends. They're all really nice. Oh! I had a class with All Might the other day. It was interesting to see him up close."

Midoriya thought it best to _not_ mention that he had in fact met All Might before.

Inko put a hand on her cheek.

"Oh my, is he as amazing as people say?"

Midoriya pondered the question.

"I don't know to be honest. I can see the appeal. He's always smiling, always standing tall. It makes you wonder how happy he actually is. But...yeah, I think he's cool. He was nice to me, anyway."

Inko smiled wistfully, sipping her tea. She turned to Hizashi.

"And what do you do, Yamada?"

Midoriya snickered into his mug. The blond looked like he was just told the funniest joke.

"Oh! I'm so sorry for not mentioning it earlier. You probably can't tell from my casual outfit, but I am the one and only Present Mic!"

He threw up a hand with flourish, flicking his long hair over one shoulder.

Inko smiled at the display. She looked mildly embarrassed 

"I'm sorry for not recognising you! I suppose the hair threw me off. Is it true you're also an English teacher?"

Hizashi puffed up his chest. Midoriya immediately pictured a budgie. Maybe a cockatoo.

"Teacher? I run the whole department!"

"Oh my! That must be a lot of work."

Hizashi smiled kindly.

"Yeah, but I love it. If you love what you do, you don't work a day in your life, right?"

She nodded.

"Right!"

The continued chatting about anything and everything.

The doorbell rang in the middle of their conversation.

"Excuse me, let me get that."

She set her mug down, brushing off her skirt as she walked to the door.

Midoriya looked over at Hizashi, who was chomping down on his cake. The boy giggled.

The sound of the door opening echoed through the apartment.

"Ah, Katsuki! How nice of you to drop by!"

Hizashi choked on his cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you all think! Any questions, comments and suggestions are welcome lol

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!!!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [So We Made Our Own Computer, Out Of Macaroni Pieces](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750292) by [ArsenicArsonist (Fangtail528)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangtail528/pseuds/ArsenicArsonist)




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